


Not Recommended

by RoseyPoseyPie



Series: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Asexual Natasha Romanov, BAMF Avengers, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Canon-Typical Violence, Comic Book Science, Comic Book Violence, Deaf Clint Barton, Female Bruce Banner, Female Clint Barton, Female Steve Rogers, Female Thor (Marvel), Female Tony Stark, Lesbian Bruce Banner, Lesbian Thor (Marvel), Lesbian Tony Stark, Minor Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Minor Phil Coulson/Audrey Nathan, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Bucky Barnes/Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Avengers (2012), The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, nonbinary Natasha Romanov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseyPoseyPie/pseuds/RoseyPoseyPie
Summary: Nat Romanoff hated their job to select a group of extraordinary people for the Avengers Initiative because the specifications were impossible. This is what they had: Toni Stark, the Iron Maiden, a brilliant firecracker with a guilt complex. Not recommended. Bertie Banner, the Hulk, brains and brawn, but never both at once. Not recommended. Thordis Odinsdottir, an alien princess/goddess, and pacifist powerhouse. Not recommended. Captain Stephanie Barnes, the super-soldier from WWII, now a super-mother. Not recommended.But when an alien calling himself Loki shows up and brainwashes Claire Barton, the deaf archer who saved Nat's life all those years ago, recommendations may not be as important as they once were. Maybe, the group can even save the world, if they can get along.





	1. Prologue: Recommendations

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited to finally start publishing my AYCDICDB 'Verse adaptation of the Avengers!
> 
> For those of you who have been following my series for a while, welcome back! I hope you're all looking forward to this as much as I am.
> 
> For those of you who are new, hi! It's great to have you, and I highly recommend you read the rest of the AYCDICDB series, so you understand this universe a little better. However, my first Marvel Movie was The Avengers, so you can definitely start on this one too.
> 
> I have a collection of playlist for this fic:
> 
> [The Avengers](https://8tracks.com/roseyposeypie/the-avengers?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button) from [RoseyPoseyPie](http://8tracks.com/roseyposeypie?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button) on [8tracks Radio](https://8tracks.com?utm_medium=referral&utm_content=mix-page&utm_campaign=embed_button).
> 
> You can also find individual character playlists on my 8tracks if you have a favorite!
> 
> And now, without further ado, the prologue:

Nat woke up in a familiar bed, a lumpy pillow resting under their head. They sat up, yawning and stretching, and tossing the cheap, cotton sheets off their lap. Nat looked down at the dark tank top and boxers clinging to their narrow frame, glanced at the tight compression garment on the floor, and decided they didn’t need that right now, especially before coffee. The apartment was three rooms: one bedroom, one bathroom, and one living space. As they walked to the kitchen, past the framed stock photos and cheap Target decor, they noticed Claire. Claire was lounging on the couch, watching her new StarkPhone intently, as Fury’s voice over the line was translated into text by everyone’s new best friend, Helen Stark. Nat didn’t mind the new StarkTech craze, they’d never let their phone record them continuously, but there were merits to Toni Stark’s latest inventions. Namely, the accessibility. Nat wouldn’t’ve guessed that when it came to disabilities, Toni Stark thought of everything. Helen’s voice recognition meant that Claire could take calls without having to worry about getting her hearing aids and her compilot, having all the Bluetooth sync up and plugging in the right pin codes, so all her technology liked each other. When Claire wasn’t wearing her aids, answering a call took three minutes because she had to get them. Now, her phone’s voice recorder could caption life in real time.

 

Claire noticed Nat as they poured themselves a cup of black coffee from the pot on the counter and waved. Nat smiled sleepily and drowned the hot and bitter drink. “Fresh pot?” she signed. Claire nodded.

 

“For you,” Claire signed with one hand as she used the other to hold up the phone. Nat could hear the muffled voice of Fury continuing, but Claire would tell Nat if it were important. Nat poured a second cup of coffee to sip this time, while they got started on making something for breakfast. Hot water with eggs went on a back burner to boil while strips of bacon were laid in a frying pan. The call ended, and Claire rose from the couch, drawn to the kitchen from the smells of frying meat.

 

“Morning,” Claire greeted.

 

“What was the call about?” Nat motioned.

 

“More assembly today,” Claire signed. “A protocol drill and an update on Banner. Fruit? Toast?”

 

“Please,” Nat responded. Claire nodded and grabbed a plastic tub of blueberries and a loaf of bread from the refrigerator, putting the bread in the toaster and washing the blueberries in a colander. Breakfast came together silently, the pair occasionally tapping the other’s leg with a foot as a way to establish their presence, it was their version of morning small-talk. They sat on the couch. The only sounds were chewing and the clinking of forks on cheap china. The morning Law and Order rerun was silent, black boxes with white text scrolling across the bottom of the screen so they could understand what was going on. On the commercials, the captions would glitch out, strange strands of letters shooting off the screen. A McDonalds commercial where the bottom text read AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- made Nat smile.

 

* * *

 

Nat used to move monthly. Living in one place for a long time was dangerous. They never had any permanent belongings beyond their favorite knife and a bag of hair ties. It wasn’t until Claire came over one day, looked at the abysmal state of Nat’s latest apartment, and declared that Nat was moving in with to settle somewhere finally. Claire was Nat’s only and closest friend, the woman who saved Nat when “she” was the most wanted assassin on the planet, and the only person Nat trusted irrevocably.

 

It was Claire who spared Nat. Claire could have taken the shot, but she didn’t, she lowered her weapon and opened her arms. Claire carried Nat back to S.H.I.E.L.D., pointed at the scars and the way Nat flinched at authority and declared that Nat needed help more than anything. Claire stayed up at night to soothe Nat through the first month of unyielding nightmares, rocking back and forth with them on the floor as they heaved and vomited everywhere from the memories of the pain. Claire and Nat went on missions together, where Nat also learned not to take the kill. What Nat had with Claire was far more intimate than anything they had ever been taught to pretend in the Red Room. Love, to Nat, was a weapon for exploitation. It was a childish flaw to be used to one’s advantage. It was giving your body and your mind to someone else, exposing vulnerabilities that you should not have. Nat learned to become anyone, seduce anyone, kill anyone. Claire stripped that all away. Nat could not find personal pleasure in something they had been taught to use as a gun. There were no declarations of love, as Nat could not admit weakness yet. But it was their quiet mornings together, the way they walked down the street in matching strides, the rare times Nat pulled off all the disguises and was themself to laugh or cry and mean it. That raw intimacy was unparalleled by anything Nat had ever pretended to do, and it was only to Claire Barton that Nat Romanoff was truly Nat.

 

* * *

 

The Avengers Initiative was a joke. None of the candidates were any good. Stark was too proud. Banner was too chaotic. Blonsky was far worse. The alien had sacrificed her power for a normal life. They had lists of others, but they were all far too weak, untrained, dangerous, or disobedient. Fury had told Nat to make a list of extraordinary people who could save the world, and nobody was on it. How depressing. Banner had been sighted at the Indian-Pakistani border. Or rather, Banner’s alter ego. Evidence indicated she had been attacked by some terror cell. The Ten Rings had strangely been growing in power recently. Fury had theories. As for Banner, they had mapped her from New York to Canada to Greenland to Iceland to Norway to Hungary to Russia, and that’s where they lost her until Pakistan. It wasn’t incidents all the time. Often, it was her face getting tagged in an image, or a surveillance camera. S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t intervene once she left United States soil. If they wanted to, the permissions they needed would be intercepted by Ross, and he made the whole mess in New York in the first place. So they watched.

 

“We should scrap this,” Nat said to Fury.

 

“Is that your decision to make, Romanoff?” Fury asked.

 

“Then you must change the requirements,” Nat said. “You want power which will be willingly obedient. You want enhanced soldiers. That isn’t what we’re given. Either you reduce the threshold for abilities or you accept more chaos.”

 

“Or you keep looking,” Fury told them.

 

Nat sighed.

 

* * *

 

When news broke that they had found the Captain America, the Stephanie Barnes, the Girl with the Star Spangled Heart, Nat immediately added the Captain to the list. Enhanced, and a model soldier. Nat couldn’t imagine the Captain refusing, but Nat underestimated the Captain’s health.

 

“You have to scratch off Barnes,” Fury said.

 

“Why?” Nat asked. “She’s still asleep. Is she not going to make it?” Nat asked.

 

“She’s pregnant, a blood test confirmed,” Fury said. “The fetus survived the arctic for seventy years. I still can’t believe it.”

 

“We have nothing, then,” Nat said.

 

“Tell you what, we’ll scrap it,” Fury said. “But pick your favorites. Break glass in case of emergency types.”

 

“Expecting an emergency, sir?” Nat asked.

 

“Always,” Fury nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

Claire decided to dye her hair purple. Not all of it, just strands. She wanted to add some more color, now that she was going to be little more than a glorified bodyguard — a silent rebellion against Fury sending her to the middle of the desert.

 

“It’s six months maximum,” Nat said. “I was in Japan for nearly a year.”

 

“But I got to visit you often - this facility is a full black site. You won't be allowed to make conjugal visits." Claire was frustrated. "You know, Sometimes I just want to live in our crappy apartment with a dog and chill forever,” Claire said.“I need to take my hearing aids out for the dye process.”

 

Nat switched to using hands with Claire, “You’d get bored.”

 

“No,” Claire protested, snapping her fingers together furiously.

 

“Remember that month you spent with Barney and his family?”

 

“Farms in Iowa aren’t my favorite,” Claire agreed.

 

“You’ll get lots of time to read,” Nat added. “And remember, I'm me. I can visit if I ask politely.”

 

"You better visit a lot then,” Claire said. “I’m gonna miss our coffee.”

 

“You can bring the coffee maker, I can always buy a new one,” Nat reminded.

 

Claire shook her head.“You make it hard,” Claire said.

 

“Make what hard?” Nat asked.

 

“Emotions” Claire answered.

 

Nat’s eyebrows rose, “And you make it easy?”

 

“Easier,” Claire signed. “I don't pretend they don't exist. Just admit you’ll miss me, Natty.”

 

“Maybe,” Nat said. They smiled at Claire. Claire smiled back. And everything seemed alright.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> As always, your feedback is appreciated in its many forms, including comments, kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions. If you're eager to know more about the "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" Universe, the link to the entire series should be down below.
> 
> Thank you, until next time! :)


	2. Visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading, commenting, giving kudos, subscribing, bookmarking and enjoying this so far! I'm glad that you all enjoyed the prologue and are looking forward to the adaptation of the Avengers!
> 
> I experimented a bit with the third person universal narration in this chapter, know that this will be tonally dissonant from the rest of the fic.
> 
> Without further ado, the chapter!

It’s really not surprising that New Mexico had such a reputation for aliens when a government agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to quarantine all of their most alien technology in the land of enchantment. And maybe, also, there was that thing with the Bifrost two years ago, but you can’t blame New Mexico for that, the shifting of planetary orbits and positions meant that a thousand years ago, the Viking aliens actually went where Viking aliens ought to be, Norway. Now, everything in Roswell especially was entirely S.H.I.E.L.D’s fault. But we’re not going to talk about the issues stemming from those experiments in the sixties. Mostly because it’s classified. Very classified.

 

So, what’s wrong with New Mexico this time? Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. thought that a desert plateau in the northern corner of the state would be the absolute best place to experiment with an unknown alien and cosmic power as old as the universe itself. Honestly, tell any New Mexican the government was using an infinite power in their state, and they’d shrug at you and complain about the weather. No two New Mexicans agreed on the best weather or the worst weather. Sunny day, and there’s grumbling. Rainy day, grumbling. Snow, wind, hail, ominous gray clouds, the storms with faces, someone complains about something. Right, cosmic power. Well, it’s the cosmic cube, also known as the Tesseract (also known as the space stone of the six infinity stones, but that last part is totally spoilers - Oops).

 

When the Tesseract’s radiation emissions started sparking, Claire Barton did the reasonable thing and told Coulson to evacuate all non-essential personnel. And Phil Coulson did the sensible thing and evacuated all non-essential personnel while calling his boss, Director Fury. Fury arrived at the tail end of the evacuation when most important things and people were safe and somewhere else. Coulson watched Fury arrive while wearing sunglasses at night. He’s getting stabbed later, so I guess he has a pass at looking like a dweeb. 

 

“How bad is it?” Fury asked.

 

“That's the problem, sir. We don't know,” Coulson said.

 

Coulson brought Fury and Hill through the facility 

 

“Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago,” Coulson explained.

 

“NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase,” Fury said as if anyone actually cared about what NASA has to say. And honestly, how are they even getting NASA money? The grant process is long, and the scientists on the panel would dodge military-sponsored magic Nazi space cube projects hard, and there’s no other way NASA would have any superiority with this project beyond it being on their dime. I’m sorry. But like, NASA seriously has some sort of authority here?

 

“He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement,” Coulson said.

 

“It just turned itself on?” Hill asked, her question letting everyone else understand what was going on because Coulson prefers eloquence to clarity.

 

“What are the energy levels now?” Fury asked.

 

“Climbing,” Coulson said. Goddammit, Coulson, Fury asked about the levels, not their derivatives. “When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac.”

 

“How long to get everyone out?” Fury asked.

 

“Campus should be clear in the next half hour,” Coulson said.

 

“Do better,” Fury ordered. So Coulson left to follow that vague order.

 

“Sir, evacuation may be futile,” said Maria Hill, the voice of reason.

 

“We should tell them to go back to sleep?” Fury asked.

 

“If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance,” Maria Hill said.

 

“I need you to make sure that PHASE 2 prototypes are shipped out,” Fury said.

 

“Sir, is that really a priority right now?” Maria Hill asked. The answer? Absolutely not. Fury just really liked his big Tesseract-powered guns because the paranoia of world domination was real, and so was the military-industrial complex.

 

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of PHASE 2 on a truck and gone,” Fury ordered.

 

“Yes, sir,” Hill conceded. “With me,” She said to some extras.

 

Fury went into the Tesseract room. In the middle of the room was the Tesseract in a Compact Muon Solenoid Coil Chamber. A CMS Coil Chamber is a particle physics detector, the largest one at CERN in Switzerland. S.H.I.E.L.D. had one for the sole purpose of trying to figure out the particle interactions in and around the Tesseract. At the moment, the Tesseract was glowing bright blue, and flares of energy were arcing off its surface.

 

“Talk to me doctor,” Fury said.

 

“Director,” Selvig greeted him.

 

“Is there anything we know for certain?”

 

“The Tesseract is misbehaving,” Selvig said. Bad Tessie, does Daddy Selvig have to - I am so sorry.

 

“Is that supposed to be funny? Fury asked.

 

“No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's… misbehaving.” Selvig said, repeating himself.

 

“How soon until you pull the plug?” Fury asked.

 

Selvig does not quit with the personification of an otherworldly object as old as the universe itself, “She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level-”

 

“We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space,” Fury said.

 

We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation-”

 

“That can be harmful,” Fury said, thinking of the big green woman that resulted in a lot of paperwork. “Where’s Barton?”

 

“The Hawk? Up in her nest, as usual,” Selvig said.

 

“Agent Barton, report,” Fury said into his earpiece. Claire Barton rappelled down from the overhead catwalk when she could have easily taken the stairs and walked over to Fury. They discreetly spoke while walking through the facility.

 

I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things,” Fury said.

 

“Well, I see better from a distance,” Claire replied. That means you need glasses, Claire.

 

“Are you seeing anything that might have set it off?” Fury asked,

 

“Doctor, it’s spiking again!” A scientist said ominously.

 

“No one's come or gone. Selvig is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end,” Claire said.

 

“At this end?” Fury asked.

 

“Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides,” Claire shrugged, proving that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand interdimensional  and otherworldly powers. In fact, while all the nerds were squinting and pointing at the most minute neutrino outputs, one former circus performer with hearing aids and a caffeine addiction was the only person in the room who understood what was going on.

 

Suddenly a massive bolt of energy shot out of the Tesseract. The ground rumbled and shook around them, and the earthquakes could be felt across the facility. The harsh beam of energy stopped at the observation platform which was looped to the CMS coil, and the energy continued to concentrate on a single point in space, becoming denser and denser until the very fabric of the universe started to shift and rip at that point, opening a black fissure, where the sky of the other end of the galaxy could be seen. Then, the energy cut off and the portal collapsed, blinding blue beams obscuring the portal and whatever slithered out of it. As the room cleared, they all saw a figure kneeling in the center of the observation platform, smoke rising off his body, greasy dark hair in his face, a strange, curved golden spear in one hand, with a stone at the base of the curved blade releasing an eerie yellow glow.

 

The guards sprung into action, weapons trained on this new visitor. As he rose his head, he had upon his face a wicked smile. He also had sallow skin, gaunt cheeks, and heavy bags beneath his eyes. Nobody at S.H.I.E.L.D. was really paying attention to the fact he looked like he hadn’t eaten anything in months, “a scary man with a spear” was really all they could intellectually muster at the moment. And, let’s be honest, nobody became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for their compassion.

 

“Sir, please, put down the spear!” Fury called with all the authority he possessed. The man glanced at the subject spear and then sent a blast of yellow light at Fury and Claire. Claire tackled Fury and knocked both of them out of the way of the explosion. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents opened machine gun fire, but the bullets ricocheted off of him. He jumped from the platform, sending a seemingly endless supply of throwing knives and the blasts from the scepter at his assailants. Claire pulled herself to her feet just in time for the man to descend upon her, holding her in place. She tried to pull herself free from his grasp, but it was inhumanly strong.

 

“You have heart,” The man hissed. He tapped the tip of his spear to her sternum, sending a ripple of yellow energy through her. Her eyes became glassy, her head grew foggy, and she knew it was now her responsibility to follow his orders.

 

The continued using his spear the few agents who had not been killed in the initial onslaught, casting yellow into their eyes until they were little more than mindless drones. As he did so, some of the scientists crawled to safety. Fury’s priority was the Tesseract, he hoped he could put it in the case and run away before this suspicious new antagonist realized, but he was not as subtle as he thought.

 

“Please don’t,  I still need that,” the man said, looking at the case.

 

“This doesn’t have to get any messier,” Fury said, turning around. His hopes to deescalate were low, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

 

“Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose,” Loki of Asgard with glorious purpose said.

 

“Loki?” Selvig asked, recognizing the name as he was bent over a fallen scientist. “Brother of Thordis?”

 

“We have no quarrel with your people,” Fury said. As far as he knew, Asgard was just an advanced alien race that dumped their disobedient Princess on Earth to die. He didn’t exactly respect  them, but he didn’t want to fight them.

 

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot,” Loki said, not specifying exactly who was what.

 

“You planning to step on us?” Fury asked.

 

“I come with glad tidings,” Loki said, sounding like a Christmas card. “Of a world made free.”

 

“Free from what?”

 

“Freedom,” Loki said. Alright, less like a Christmas card now. “Freedom is life’s great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart-” Loki whipped around to where Selvig was slowly approaching. He pressed the tip of his spear to Selvig’s chest, “-You will know peace.”

 

“Yeah, you say peace,” Fury said. “I kind of think you mean the other thing.”

 

And then, for the purposes that best suited the transition of this scene, the ceiling started to crack. The force of the energy blast and it’s residual energy which was hovering above their heads was beginning to take a toll on the structure, and soon the entire base would come crumbling down.

 

“Sir,” Claire addressed Loki, “Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us.”

 

“Like the Pharaohs of Odin,” Fury said, confusing everyone with his lack of understanding of Egyptian and Norse myths.

 

“He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical,” Selvig said.

 

“Well, then,” Loki said, nodding at Claire. Claire knew she was supposed to shoot Fury, but she didn’t want Fury to die. She was quite fond of her former boss. She rose her gun and hit him in the chest, the bullet hitting his kevlar. Fury was still knocked to the ground and lay still as Loki, and the rest passed. Selvig picked up the briefcase with the tesseract. Claire, Loki, Selvig, and a collection of unimportant agents headed to the motor pool, where Hill was waiting.

 

“We need these vehicles,” Claire said.

 

Maria Hill looked at the man who came from an alien renaissance fair with a healthy dose of suspicion, “Who’s that?”

 

“He didn’t tell me,” Claire shrugged. 

 

Maria decided to go find Fury. As she turned around, her external comms crackled. It’s regrettable she was using external comms, you’d think a spy agency would be a bit more careful of the technology they used in case something like this happened.

 

“Hill, do you copy? Barton is-” Maria didn’t need to hear the end. Her suspicions were confirmed. She whipped around, gun drawn, just in time to somersault out of the way of Claire’s bullets. The car they were in sped off. “He’s got the Tesseract! Track it down!” Fury called. Maria didn’t need to be told twice. She slipped into a Jeep, and slammed down on the gas pedal, shooting through the tunnels after Barton and her new friends. A series of backup trucks started to drive behind her, but as they were full of unnamed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the trucks were promptly destroyed by Loki’s spear. Hill decided she did not want to die in a blast, so she swerved to the side and shot into a different access tunnel, going a different direction.

 

Elsewhere, Fury and Coulson were evacuating. Fury probably had a cracked rib from the force of the bullet, and Coulson was trying to get as many people out as he could in the earthquake, ordering agents to abandon evacuating objects or information and get out with their lives.

 

Hill maneuvered through the tunnels, managing to jump in front of Loki and Claire’s car, doing a half-spin with her emergency break, so she was face to face with the driver and Claire. Claire started shooting at her, and Maria decided to start shooting at Claire, breaking her windshield in the process. Claire slammed on the gas pedal and pushed her car backward through the tunnels as Claire and Maria exchanged bullets.

 

Coulson evacuated to a vehicle convoy, while Fury returned to the helicopter pad and made it into the helicopter just in time for the aircraft to hover away from the facility, which fell apart  beneath them in an implosion.

 

Claire was going fast enough that Maria’s jeep wobbled and slipped to the side, Claire shot past and out of the crumbling access tunnel. Maria tried to follow, but her vehicle was caved in a few  feet from the mouth of the tunnel.

 

As Fury’s helicopter looped around the tunnel entrance, Fury started shooting at the Jeep with Loki and the Tesseract. Loki sent a blast of bright light at Fury, it hit the helicopter, which began to spin to the ground. Fury leaped from the aircraft when it was a story from the ground, rolled, and continued to shoot at the Jeep, but it was too far away. Loki smiled.

 

“Director? Director Fury? Do you copy?” Coulson asked on ex-comms.

 

“The Tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down,” Fury said. “Hill?”

 

Maria pulled herself from the window of the car, surrounded by rocks on all sides. She was covered in dust.

 

“A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors,” She reported.

 

“Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase,” Fury ordered.

 

“Roger that,” Hill said.

 

“Coulson, get back to base. This is a level seven. As of right now, we are at war,” Fury said. Well, they were at the same security level as war, it’s not like the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had the executive or legislative authority to declare war.

 

“What do we do?” Coulson asked.

 

Fury looked dramatically in the distance, thinking. “I need you to talk to our other Asgardian. We need information, and maybe she can get to her brother.”

 

“The Princess will have more questions than I have answers.”

 

“We’ll wait until morning. Hopefully, we can pull some footage from our encrypted cloud drive,” Fury said. “Hill, I want you to coordinate with search and rescue.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Hill nodded.

 

“Coulson, afterward, I need Romanoff. I need Stark. I need Banner. And I need Barnes,” Fury said. “I’ll speak to Barnes personally. She went into the ice to stop the Tesseract from being used  by a megalomaniac, she deserves a full explanation of why we ended up here again.”

 

“Is this the Avengers Initiative, sir?” Coulson asked.

 

Probably.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> As always, your feedback is incredibly appreciated, especially comments! I'd love to know your thoughts on this so far and what you're excited for in the future.
> 
> Until next time! :)


	3. Players

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your feedback on the last chapter! I enjoyed having the opportunity to experiment with a new narrative technique, although the rest of the fic should stay in my usual style.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Coulson arrived at the lab in Puente Antigo in the late morning of the next day.

 

“Son of Coul!” Thordis, alias Donna Blake, said, greeting him as he entered the lab. Doctor Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis looked up at him. “We were not expecting you.”

 

“Unfortunately, I’m not here on good circumstances,” Coulson said. “Something has happened to Erik Selvig.”

 

“What?” Jane asked. Selvig was like her father and was a close friend of the trio.

 

“He was working on a particle physics project for us which turned into an astrophysics project,” Coulson said. “It opened a portal similar to the ones you’ve been making to create. We didn’t know it could. We suspected it had abilities and that was a suggestion.” That was more half-truth than full-truth. They expected that it could make a portal, but they didn’t tell Jane because they didn’t want Thordis to know about the alien devices they were using. Fury felt as though mixing the alien with the alien was a recipe for disaster.

 

“Did something come out of the portal?” Thordis asked. Coulson sometimes forgot because she was an alien that the Princess was also a politician, warrior, and amateur scientist. He wasn’t  forgetting now, as he saw the sharpness in her eyes as she looked at him suspiciously. She would analyze and criticize his every word.

 

“Your brother,” Coulson said. “Loki, of Asgard. Selvig recognized his name. He declared that he’s come to subjugate Earth.”

 

“Alone?” Thordis asked. “He did not have the army of Asgard with him?”

 

Coulson shook his head. “No, but he made his own army quite quickly. He has a spear that can control minds. Heard of it?”

 

“Loki is the King of Asgard. He would have come on the Bifrost with an army of Aesir if he wanted to subjugate Midgard. And I’ve never heard of him wielding such a weapon before. It certainly does not sound like Gungnir, the spear of the King of Asgard.”

 

“We could use your help,” Coulson said. “We don’t know why he’s here. We don’t know what he’s planning. And if he is your brother, you’re the person who knows him best.”

 

“Certainly,” Thordis said. “I too have many questions about this. If this man is not my brother but claims to be, I would like to know why he is trying to create conflict between the realms. I cannot see Loki doing this, but if it is him, I want to help protect him from whatever path he is setting himself down. Do you feel like he targeted Selvig for our friendship?”

 

“It’s a possibility,” Coulson nodded.

 

“Then you must get Jane and Darcy to safety.”

 

“Wait, what?” Jane asked. “Get me to safety? I want to help! If this portal is like those of my research like you said, I could help understand it, and therefore what Loki wants to do with it.”

 

“If something were to happen to you-”

 

“I know when to run,” Jane said. “I’m helping. Erik is my friend, too.”

 

“For what it’s worth, I’m also in,” Darcy Lewis piped up.

 

“We’ll arrange a jet to pick you up tomorrow morning, so you have the day to pack,” Coulson said. He turned to Thordis. “I have to warn you, your brother’s actions have already resulted in nearly seventy deaths.”

 

Thordis nodded somberly. “I understand this is a grave circumstance. I want to help where I can. I promise you this.”

 

Coulson accepted that and handed Thordis a small drive, “Everything you need to know is on here, including the rest of the team we’re bringing in. Read it in full, please, and don’t hesitate to contact with any questions.”

 

“Thank you,” Thordis said.

 

* * *

 

 

Nat Romanoff was uncomfortable. The mission of the day was seduction, again, because it was easy and men were stupid. Now as Natalia, she had put on makeup and worn an infernal push-up bra, a low-cut blouse, and skinny leather pants which clung to her shapely legs like a second skin. A little bit of flirting, some bad intel, and she was tied to a chair in Solenski Plaza in an abandoned construction building with some angry Russian arms dealer, Luchkov. His hand cracked across Natalia’s face. The push-up bra was still more painful.

 

“This is not how I wanted the evening to go,” Luchkov said, in Russian, of course.

 

“I know how you wanted this evening to go, believe me, this is better,” Natalia replied.

 

“I'd like to know why they sent you to carry out a carrier, a stained glass, and other random items,” Luchkov said, as one of his thugs tipped backward the chair Natalia was tied to.

 

“I thought General Soholob was in charge of the export business,” Natalia said, still completely unfazed. General Soholob was not in charge of the export business, but Luchkov hated Soholob.

 

“Soholob?” Luchkov laughed. “Your reputation is quite a progression. The famous Natalia Romanova. The Black Widow. Nothing but a pretty face.”

 

“You kill  _ one _ husband,” Natalia shook her head, “And suddenly you are a spider.” Natalia never liked that codename. Luchkov headed over to his tools table while the thug forced Natalia’s mouth  open. She bit down on his thumb. “Buy me dinner first,” Natalia snapped. The thug punched her. Natalia sighed and let him hold open her mouth.

 

“We do not need Lermentov to transfer the tanks,” Luchkov said, “Tell him-” he glanced at the pliers, “You may have to write it down.”

 

Suddenly, a phone was ringing. One of the scrawnier thugs picked it out of his coat, looked at it in confusion, shrugged, and answered. “Ya?” Someone on the other end said something. He handed it to Luchkov, “It’s for you.”

 

“Who the hell is-” Luchkov said.

 

It was Coulson, and he was not in the mood for foreplay or Russian, “You're at 114 Solenski Plaza, third floor. We have an F22 exactly eight miles out. Put my agent on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby.”

 

Luchkov looked at the phone in surprise and placed it between Natalia’s ear and shoulder.

 

“We need you to come it,” Coulson said over the line. Natalia shifted back to Nat Romanoff: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

“Are you kidding? I’m working,” Nat replied.

 

“This takes precedence,” Coulson said.

 

“I’m in the middle of an interrogation, and this moron is giving me everything,” Nat said.

 

“I - I don’t give everything,” Luchkov said. Nat grimaced up at him in disbelief.

 

“Look, you can’t pull me out of this right now,” Nat said.

 

“Nat, Barton’s been compromised,” Coulson said. Everything snapped inside Nat. Claire Barton was Nat’s everything. She was Nat’s partner, best friend, roommate, mentor, and only weakness. Nothing was more important than Claire.

 

“Let me put you on hold,” Nat said, nodding at Luchkov.

 

Luchkov came over to take the phone, and Nat kicked his knee, so he crumbled and forced their forehead into Luchkov’s nose with a sickening crack. They stood up and surged away from the edge as the other two thugs approached. One front kick to the chest knocked the closest one onto his back, and they ducked the swing of the second, spinning around to slam the chair into his body and send him toppling down. The impact sent Nat off balance, so they rolled to their feet, slamming the leg of the chair into the foot of the rising man. Nat pushed off and slammed the back of their head into the front of his face. Another sickening crack and the guard reeled backward. Nat swung the chair into his side and stood up, kicking out the leg of the taller one who just climbed back to his feet. Nat swung the chair around again, the legs smacking against his head and sending him to the ground. Nat sprinted, slammed both feet into the back of one guard, launched off, arced through the air, and landed the chair onto the other guard, it finally splintered beneath them.

 

The guard Nat had vaulted off of tried to grab them from behind, but they caught the back of his neck and flipped him forward, stomping the wide heel of their right boot into his face. Once, twice, thrice. Blood was leaking from his nose and mouth, his eyes were swollen shut, and he was out cold. There was grunting. The taller guard Nat had vaulted onto now decided to get up and get back into the game. Nat sighed, picked up the gun off of the man beneath them, and shot out both of the thug’s knees in their periphery. Luchkov was slowly trying to get to his knees, Nat picked up an overhead chain, fastened it around one of his ankles, and dropped him into the hole he had been threatening them with all evening. Sighing, Nat picked up the phone and headed out of the construction site.

 

“Where’s Barton now?” Nat asked.

 

“We don’t know,” Coulson replied.

 

“But she’s alive?” Nat asked.

 

“We think so,” Coulson said. “I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big girl.”

 

“Coulson, you know Stark trusts me as far as she can throw me,” Nat said.

 

“No, I’ve got Stark. You’ve got the big girl.”

 

Nat sighed and cursed in Russian. They were not looking forward to meeting Bertie Banner.

 

* * *

 

It hadn’t been hard to find a little girl who didn’t care what odd job Nat needed her to do if it meant enough food for her family for a month. All the girl had to do was lure Bertie Banner, who was putting her medical degree to good use in Calcutta, so Nat could talk to the woman about the Tesseract. Nat was surprised and not surprised that Bertie Banner was here, helping people. On the one hand, it wasn’t the stress-free environment that one would expect a woman with Bertie’s condition to settle in. On the other hand, Bertie Banner had strong feelings of  repentance and generally wanted to help people.

 

Nat waited in the shadows, obscured from the line of sight of the entrances. There was a mic beneath their jacket, and an earpiece in their left ear, in case they needed backup. The little girl with her pockets full of money led a shabby-looking Banner into the shack. As soon as Banner entered, the girl scrambled out one of the windows, leaving Banner to look around in confusion.

 

“Should’ve got paid up front, Bert,” Banner said to herself, sighing. She knew that she wasn’t alone, it was clear from the way she held herself. Nat stepped out of the shadows. Thankfully having changed out of those attractive clothes into more comfortable ones on the trip from Russia to India.

 

“You know, for a woman who’s supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle,” Nat said.

 

“Avoiding stress isn’t the secret,” Bertie said, eyeing Nat suspiciously.

 

“What is it then, yoga?” Nat asked, lips quirking into a polite smile.

 

“You brought me to the edge of the city, smart,” Banner said. “I, uh, assume the whole place is surrounded?”

 

Nat’s instinct was to give Bertie Banner a lie that would soothe her, but if Nat lied, that would build a trustless foundation for Banner, and the consequences could be massive.

 

“I’m not alone,” Nat nodded. “But we’re not planning on chasing you if you want to leave. I was hoping, before you do, you at least listen.” There, a truth. A much more gentle version of the truth, but truth nonetheless.

 

“And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?”

 

“She’s not,” Nat said. “But I did.” That truth wasn’t necessary at all, but Nat hoped to build a rapport with Banner. They didn’t know Banner’s response to that truth. The woman’s body language was abnormal, and it was throwing Nat off.

 

“Who are you?” Banner asked.

 

“Nat Romanoff,” Nat replied.

 

“And you aren’t here to kill me, Miss Romanoff?” Bertie asked, still hesitant. Nat had been misses and misters several times, and a missus once, but it always felt insincere when someone called them something like that.

 

“Agent Romanoff,” Nat chirped immediately, it was second nature to correct people. “I’m here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., and we don’t want you dead.”

 

“S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Bertie nodded, familiar. “How’d they find me?”

 

“We never lost you, Doctor,” Nat said. “We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent.”

 

“Why?” Bertie asked.

 

“Fury seems to trust you,” Nat said. “But now, we need you to come in.”

 

“What if I said no?” Banner asked.

 

“You can,” Nat said. “But I’d like to explain  _ why _ we need you first. So you can make an informed decision.” Banner shrugged and motioned for Nat to continue. “We’re facing a potential global catastrophe.”

 

Banner laughed, “Well, those, I actively try to avoid.”

 

Nat opened a StarkPhone and let the image of the Tesseract flicker in the dark of the shack. “This is the Tesseract,” they said. “It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet.”

 

“What does Fury want me to do with it? Swallow it?” Banner asked.

 

Nat wasn’t sure if Banner was joking or not. For good measure, they shook their head, “He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be.”

 

“So Fury isn’t after the monster?” Banner asked.

 

“Not that he’s told me,” Nat admitted.

 

“And he tells you everything?” Banner asked.

 

“Of course not,” Nat said. “But if you talk to him, he’ll tell you more.”

 

“In where? A cage?” Banner asked.

 

“Nobody’s going to put you in a cage-”

 

“STOP LYING TO ME!” Banner roared, slamming both fists on the table. Nat jumped back, and a hand dropped to their hip holster, ready to draw the weapon if Banner moved closer. Banner stood up and smiled at Nat as if satisfied with that reaction.

 

“Romanoff, copy!” The private comms chirped in Nat’s ear.

 

Banner went back to her passive, unthreatening, slightly strange stance, “I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and we don’t make a mess?”

 

Nat let go of the holster, “It’s fine,” they said aloud.

 

“You’re fine?” Backup asked. Banner was oblivious to that question.

 

“I’m fine,” Nat said.

 

“Good,” Banner said.

 

* * *

 

 

Fury was not eager to see Stephanie Barnes. A veteran from the second world war, a displaced super-soldier seeking help for her post-traumatic stress and depression, and a new mother in the twenty-first century. The first hope of S.H.I.E.L.D. was that she would join their ranks and lead the Avengers Initiative. However, when it was discovered that she had been pregnant since going into the ice in 1945 and the baby also managed to survive the surprise cryogenics experiment, all hope for the return of Captain America was gone. Stephanie Barnes retired, had her dead husband’s baby, and lived in an apartment in Brooklyn, visiting the farmer’s market on Saturdays. So the fact that Fury had to come to her doorstep with the file for the Tesseract, and tell Mrs. Barnes that they needed her was an undertaking he wasn’t even sure was in his training.

 

He knocked. There was shuffling. The door swung open. Stephanie Barnes opened the door. She was wearing a large hoodie and yoga pants, and greeted Fury with a polite smile.

 

“Director Fury,” She said. “Come inside, please.”

 

Fury stepped into her apartment and looked around. It was like an IKEA catalog, but definitely was being lived in by Barnes and her infant son, who was just about three months now.

 

“I just put James down for bed,” she said. “Have a seat. Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee? I should still have half an apple pie in the fridge somewhere-”

 

“That’s alright, Captain-”

 

“Stephanie, please,” Stephanie said. “I was just about to make myself a cup of chamomile, so it’s no problem. Besides, some tea will do you well.” She looked at him, a kind smile, but icy  eyes, “If you’ve come here, you must be _very_ stressed.” She lifted the kettle from her stovetop and poured two cups of hot water, dropping a bag of chamomile tea in each. She set the mug down at the dining table, where Fury had taken a seat. She sat at the head of the table, sprinkling sugar into the tea and stirring it neatly. Fury had met Peggy Carter. Fury respected Peggy Carter, she had been a mentor of his, and he had a healthy amount of fear as well. Now, he could see the Peggy Carter in Stephanie Barnes. He knew the two women were very, very close, but the way she stirred her tea and looked up at him with an expectant expression made him feel like he was a rookie agent again facing the woman who built S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

“Why are you here, Director Fury? I doubt it’s for pleasure,” Stephanie said.

 

“We’ve had a - we made a mistake,” Fury said. “Very recently.”

 

“You here with a mission?” Stephanie asked.

 

“I am,” Fury said.

 

“I thought the circumstances of my retirement were clear,” Stephanie said.

 

“They were. They are.” Fury glanced down at the mug of tea. “HYDRA’s secret weapon.”

 

“I remember it: The cube,” Stephanie said. “Did you find it?”

 

Fury shook his head. “Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean in 1945 when he was looking for you. He thought what we think; the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable  energy. That's something the world sorely needs.”

 

“Is that so?” Stephanie asked. “It’s also quite useful at making weapons if I recall.” She glanced at him accusingly.

 

“That too,” Fury agreed.

 

“Who took it from you?”

 

“He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.”

 

Stephanie was quiet for a long while, “Captain America is dead, Director Fury. I’m retired. Why do you need _me_?”

 

“Because you’ve seen it in action,” Fury said. “You have experience with how it works, what it can do, and how to fight it. We need that right now.”

 

“So you don’t need a soldier. You need a strategist?”

 

“We do. We also know you helped Howard Stark while you worked together for the SSR, even after the serum,” Fury said. “You may understand the nature of it in ways we don’t.”

 

“Surely you have scientists and technicians who’ve more experience with the Tesseract. I only ever saw it once, and that’s when it killed Schmidt,” Stephanie said.

 

“They’re compromised,” Fury said. "Most of them."

 

“Most of them?” Stephanie looked at him, and he could feel the scathing judgment of both her and Peggy Carter. “Well, if you need intel, I don’t see why you’d have to bring me anywhere. Don’t you have communications?”

 

“Those are compromised too,” Fury said.

 

Stephanie’s expression now shifted to something of disappointment. She took a long sip from her mug of tea.

 

“Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?” Fury asked, feeling like he was grasping at straws. From the way her eyes lit up, he knew that was a bad question.

 

“You should have left it in the ocean,” Stephanie said. She glanced over at the baby monitor sitting on the coffee table in the living room, just a few strides away. She watched as the flickering green light told her that everything was well in the nursery down the hall. She looked up at Fury, “Tell me honestly, how bad is it? One through ten, one being an alleyway brawl and ten being the destruction of all life on Earth?”

 

“An eight, at least,” Fury said.

 

Stephanie glanced back at the baby monitor, a determined look on her face, “I’m not fighting.”

 

“No,” Fury said. “You won’t have to fight. I promise.”

 

“And if you break your promise?” Stephanie asked. “Or you can’t keep it?”

 

“Mrs. Barnes, I assure you-”

 

“Promises are broken all the time,” Stephanie said. Fury noticed the fact that she reached for the wedding rings hanging from her neck. She looked back to him, breaking herself out of some spell. “When do you need me?”

 

“Tomorrow morning,” Fury said. “Bright and early.”

 

“I’ll call my sister,” Stephanie said, likely referring to Mrs. Rebecca Barnes-Proctor, the first of Bucky Barnes’ three sisters. She still lived in Brooklyn seventy years later and had grown closer to Stephanie in the months since Stephanie returned to society.

 

“I’ll leave this with you,” Fury set the thick file down on the table. “Full debriefing package.”

 

“Thank you,” Stephanie said, standing up as he did. She walked with him to the front door and firmly shook his hand as he left. “Director Fury.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've met Nat, Claire, Thordis, Bertie, and Stephanie now! And Toni will be in the next chapter, I promise. Her introduction section was probably the longest, so I wanted to compensate by delaying it.
> 
> As always, I exceptionally appreciate you for reading and proving feedback! I love to hear from you all and know your thoughts and feelings on this so far. What are you looking forward to in the chapters to come?
> 
> Thank you all so much, and I'll see you next time!


	4. Welcoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, a huge thank you to everyone reading, interacting, and providing feedback.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

 

The Iron Maiden was in the Atlantic ocean. Toni Stark was doing maintenance for Stark Tower’s power lines, replacing the transition lines with arc reactors. Once the final line was disconnected and replaced, the suit shot out of the water. JARVIS opened her comm line with Pepper Potts.

 

“You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?” Pepper asked. Her face flickered onto Toni’s internal monitor.

 

“Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy,” Toni replied with a smile.

 

“Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over, and it actually works?”

 

“I assume, light her up,” Toni said. As she flew toward the skyscraper, she saw the lights in the windows turn on, and the large sign that read STARK flickered to life.

 

“How does it look?” Pepper asked.

 

“Like Christmas, but with more… me,” Toni replied.

 

“We gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards.”

 

“Pep, you’re killing me,” Toni complained. “Remember? Enjoy the moment?”

 

Pepper smirked on the screen, “Then get in here and I will.”

 

Toni landed on the pad of the penthouse. She stepped out of her suit, which was compressed and moved to storage by the gantry on the landing pad.

 

“Ma’am,” JARVIS said. “Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line.”

 

“I’m not in, I’m actually out,” Toni said.

 

“Ma’am, I’m afraid he’s insisting,” JARVIS said.

 

“Close the line, JARVIS. It’s our anniversary,” Toni said. Indeed, it was the first of May, two years after she had taken Pepper on their first official date. Toni entered the penthouse and walked over to Pepper. Pepper looked as beautiful as ever, managing to look both casual and stylish in her denim shorts and white buttoned-up blouse. She decided to learn how to do holotable programming a few months ago, probably more eager to get Toni to press up behind her and show her how to push and pull on the images more than she liked knowing how to use the technology. There was an elated feeling in Toni's chest to know that Pepper was here, living with her, in a relationship with her, in love with her. Toni didn't know how she managed to deserve Pepper as a friend, let alone a girlfriend of now two years. Of course, it wasn't in Toni's nature to confess all this when she walked in, even though it was the forefront of her mind.

 

“Levels are holding steady, I think,” Pepper said, looking at the readings on the holotable.

 

“Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?”

 

“Well,” Pepper laughed, “I really wouldn’t know now, would I?”

 

“What do you mean? All of this came from you,” Toni said.

 

“No, all of this came from that,” She pointed at Toni’s arc reactor.

 

“Give yourself some credit, please. I never would have managed to have done the logistics without you,” Toni said. “Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself, like, twelve percent of the credit.”

 

“Twelve percent?” Pepper asked, apparently not satisfied with that value.

 

“An argument can be made for fifteen,” Toni said.

 

“Twelve percent, for my baby?”

 

“It’s possible that I don’t understand how babies are made.”

 

“Sounds like it.”

 

“Well, I mean, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things.” Toni said. “And that security snafu? I’m sorry, but that was on you. Our private elevator was teeming with sweaty workmen.” Toni and Pepper sat down in the living room. Pepper looked at Toni with amusement and grabbed two cans of barely flavored sparkling water from the cooler built into the coffee table. “I’m going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren’t I?”

 

Pepper handed Toni a can. “Not gonna be that subtle.”

 

“I’ll tell you what, the next building can say ‘Potts’ on the tower,” Toni said.

 

“On the _lease_.”

 

“Call your mom, can you bunk over?” Toni teased.

 

“Ma’am,” JARVIS said. “the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten.”

 

Toni’s phone buzzed and Agent Coulson said, “Stark we need to talk.” Toni held the phone up to her face.

 

“You have reached the life model decoy of Toni Stark, please leave a message,” Toni said in a robotic voice. Beside her, Pepper stifled a laugh.

 

“This is urgent,” Coulson said.

 

“Then leave it urgently.”

 

The elevator to the penthouse slid open behind them, and Agent Coulson stepped out.

 

“Security breach - that’s on you,” Toni said to Pepper as both women stood up to greet him.

 

“Miss Stark,” Coulson greeted Toni.

 

“Phil! Come in!” Pepper said with a broad smile.

 

“Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent.”

 

“Come on in! We’re celebrating.”

 

“Which is why he can’t stay.”

 

“We need you to look over this,” Coulson said, handing a file to Toni. “Soon as possible.”

 

“I don’t like being handed things,” Toni said.

 

“That’s alright because I love to be handed things, so let’s trade,” Pepper said, handing her unopened can of sparkling water to Coulson and taking the file from him, and then taking Toni’s can of sparkling water and chugging it while handing Toni the file.

 

“Thank you,” Pepper said, crushing the empty can.

 

Toni shook her head, fighting a smile, and headed over to the holotable. “Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.”

 

“This isn’t a consultation,” Coulson said.

 

“Is this about the Avengers Initiative?” Pepper asked. Coulson looked up at her. “Which I know nothing about.”

 

“The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought,” Toni said. “And I didn’t even qualify.”

 

“I didn’t know that either,” Pepper said.

 

“Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others-”

 

“That I did know.”

 

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore,” Coulson admitted.

 

Toni finished installing the files into her database, “Miss Potts, got a minute?”

 

Pepper mouthed to Coulson. “Half a mo,’” she then headed over to Toni.

 

Toni said in low tones, “You know, I thought we were having a moment.”

 

“I was having twelve percent of a moment,” Pepper replied. Toni sighed. Pepper grew more serious, “This seems serious, Phil’s pretty shaken.”

 

“How did you notice? And why is he 'Phil?'”

 

“What is all of this?” Pepper motioned to the file.

 

“This is, uh - this,” Toni said. Expanding the file on the holotable, so images, blocks of text, and videos were playing before them. There was a large green woman smashing tanks. There was a picture of a tall, blonde woman with thick braids and a label: Princess Thordis Odinsdottir, alias Donna Blake. Propaganda images of Captain America, with toxicology and blood work reports as recent as a few months ago for the Captain, and a picture of her encased in a block of ice.  There was security footage of a man with a spear. And photos of a glowing blue cube which Toni recognized from her father’s journals.

 

“I’m gonna take the jet to D.C. tonight,” Pepper said, gazing up at the holofile.

 

“Tomorrow,” Toni protested.

 

“You’ve got homework. You’ve got a lot of homework,” Pepper said.

 

“Well, what if I didn’t?” Toni asked.

 

“If you didn’t?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You mean if you finished?” Pepper asked. Toni nodded. “Well, um, then-” she leaned closer and whispered to Toni, “Remember that thing I can do with my tongue?”

 

Toni couldn’t help herself; she gasped from the memory. Pepper pulled away with a smug expression on her face. “Square deal, fly safe.”

 

Pepper smiled and leaned down again, this time kissing Toni sweetly. “Work hard,” She headed back to the elevator and Coulson.

 

“Any chance you’re heading to La Guardia?” Pepper asked.

 

“Somewhere near there. I can drive you,” Coulson said.

 

“Oh, how’s it going with that cellist, Audrey?”

 

“She moved back to Portland, but-” the elevator doors closed. Toni lifted the hologram of the cube and looked at it. She didn’t know why, but something was worrying her about all of this.

 

* * *

 

Stephanie’s son, James Joseph Barnes, was not going to be coming with her to the secret S.H.I.E.L.D base. This meant it would be the first time Stephanie would be separated from her son since his conception nearly seventy years ago. Her sister-in-law, Rebecca Barnes-Proctor, and her niece, Rachel Dweck, came in the morning to watch James in her apartment while she went to help S.H.I.E.L.D. Stephanie was right when she assumed Becca would be upset that she was going to work. Becca argued the world had survived seventy years without Captain America and would do alright without her. But Stephanie noted how Director Fury was rattled, and the Tesseract in the hands of a fascist was something the world hadn’t experienced since Stephanie had gone into the ice - because she went into the ice.

 

“I’ll be back,” Stephanie promised James, picking him up from his crib and holding him against her chest. He whined and kicked. She kissed his forehead and handed him to Rachel.

 

“We’ll keep him happy,” Rachel said. “It’s always hard when you’re away for the first time.”

 

Stephanie nodded dully. Becca walked her to her own front door. She slipped a black leather jacket over her crisp, white button-up blouse, which tucked into her navy slacks. She picked up her satchel with the file S.H.I.E.L.D. had given her, her laptop, her phone, her keys, her wallet, and a few odds and ends she carried everywhere.

 

“Come back,” Becca urged.

 

“I swear I will,” Stephanie promised.

 

Stephanie met a car downstairs, which took her to JFK international airport, where she was escorted past security and to a private hanger. In the hangar was the jet of the future.

 

“Captain,” A balding man in a suit, greeted her with a broad smile on his face. “I’m Agent Phil Coulson.”

 

“Stephanie Barnes,” She smiled politely and shook his hand. She glanced back at the jet behind him. It was certainly impressive.

 

“It’s a Quinjet. Advanced technology, not even military-grade,” Coulson said with pride.

 

“Guess we won’t be needing a runway,” Stephanie said, observing the propellers.

 

“Come aboard, Captain,” Coulson said, walking up the access ramp. Stephanie followed.

 

“Did you understand everything in your debriefing package?” Coulson asked as they sat.

 

“I do have questions,” Stephanie said.

 

“Well, I’ve been tasked to answer any and all questions you have to the best of my ability,” Coulson said. “Do you mind waiting until we get up in the air?”

 

“Not at all, how long will the flight itself be?”

 

“Two hours.”

 

Stephanie was right. The Quinjet taxied out of the hangar, and then the propellers activated, and they went vertically into the air, reaching sufficient altitude before shooting forward. The jet sped over Long Island before coasting over the North Atlantic.

 

“Your questions, Captain?” Coulson asked.

 

“Yes,” Stephanie said. “Let’s start with Toni Stark. Why is she just a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D. if Howard was a founder and she’s clearly been a great help to the agency?”

 

“Miss Stark’s personality makes her difficult,” Coulson said. “She’s been known to be narcissistic, arrogant, volatile, and has a tendency only to follow the rules when she wants to.”

 

“Her father’s daughter, then,” Stephanie mused.

 

“Don’t say that to her. Howard and Toni had a bad relationship. She’s not fond of him,” Coulson said.

 

Stephanie processed that information silently. “And the alien?”

 

“The Princess?” Coulson asked. “What of her?”

 

“How do you know she’s alien?”

 

“Well, the enhanced combat and strange behavior was an indicator. There was the huge intergalactic portal, that was a thing. We also ran her DNA which she provided to prove to us her origins - it funny to know that our species both have DNA. But it was unlike anything we've seen before on Earth. You can’t fake that.”

 

“She’s an alien Princess,” Stephanie sighed. “And here I thought nothing would surprise me.”

 

“She’s also a god, technically,” Coulson said.

 

“I recognized the Norse mythology,” Stephanie said. “Schmidt and many Nazis found some sort of Aryan purity in Nordic culture. I believe he found the cube in Norway, at first, if I remember correctly.”

 

“We didn’t know that,” Coulson said.

 

“Glad I’m useful, then,” Stephanie smiled. “Do you know what she can do?”

 

“She single-handedly took down half of my base in New Mexico in hand-to-hand combat,” Coulson said. “She’s currently working as a mathematician for Dr. Jane Foster. The Astrophysicist who’ll be helping us. Dr. Foster specializes in portals like the Tesseract created. She’s our best bet at understanding it.”

 

“And Dr. Banner?” Stephanie asked. “She’ll be tracking it, correctly?”

 

“Yes,” Coulson nodded. “We hope we’ll only need Dr. Banner and not her other side.”

 

“I read that Dr. Banner was trying to replicate Erskine’s results,” Stephanie said. “Why didn’t Erskine continue the Super Soldier program after my supposed death?”

 

“Well, SSR funding was tight when you were overseas, most of it was funneled to you taking down HYDRA. Then the resources were given to Stark to look for you. Once Germany surrendered, Erskine was allowed to start production again after refining the serum and his formula. Except for a few days before Germany surrendered, summer of ‘45, he had a stroke. He lived, but he was unable to continue his work. He passed away in the early fifties. He didn’t keep any copies of his research, paranoid after the consequences when you volunteered, and his last recorded formula was ineffective upon experimentation. Not to mention all of his research on Vita-Rays was still lost.” Stephanie found that odd. She had dictated more than plenty memorandums about both the formula and Vita-Rays. It almost seemed like, after her success in Rebirth, a select number of individuals worked to bury the instructions to build super-soldiers. Remembering the consequences of Schmidt and the failed soldiers like Hills and Hodge, she wouldn't be surprised if Erskine, Howard, and Peggy had done it after her supposed death.

 

What was also interesting to Stephanie was the fact that even S.H.I.E.L.D. believed in the revisionist history of her experimentation, where she had volunteered for Project Rebirth. Stephanie had not volunteered, but she became familiar with the rhetoric. Many of her times of disobedience were rewritten to show her as a dutiful little soldier. Instead of jumping in front of a bullet and being given the serum to survive, a decision made for her by Howard and Erskine, she had volunteered despite testing on women being strictly forbidden by the military. Her rescue mission in Azzano was approved by Colonel Chester Phillips. The submarine mission was posthumously approved. Stalingrad was said to be the decision of some high-ranking general and not Stephanie in a moment of self-righteousness. Every decision she made that they didn’t want her too, they now claimed they had made, and she had followed. That was one of the many reasons why just sitting in this S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet was leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

 

“Can you show me what she’s capable of?” Stephanie asked.

 

Coulson fumbled around to hand her a tablet which had a collection of videos of the various women joining Stephanie. Videos of press conferences of the charismatic Toni Stark, videos of her Iron Maiden suit spiraling through the air doing tricks, getting ambushed by other flying robots, and doing construction in Midtown Manhattan on her new skyscraper. The video of Thordis fighting her way through the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility told Stephanie that this woman was powerful, graceful, and in control of her every movement. She had years of combat experience. The videos of Banner’s other form were the most spectacular to Stephanie. The Hulk, which is what her other side was known as could rip tanks in half as efficiently as tin foil. The ten-foot tall woman had green skin, rippling with muscle, and despite her animalistic movements, Stephanie also recognized deliberation. She watched the Hulk videos several times, amazed to realize that this was the result of trying to recreate her.

 

The pilot updated Coulson that they were forty minutes out. Stephanie needed more intel.

 

“So, Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum used on me?” Stephanie asked again. She hoped that if she continued to ask, it would be confirmed or denied that someone had succeeded. She didn’t want to ask that outright, however.

 

“A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula.”

 

“Vita-rays were different,” Stephanie shook her head. Their frequency was similar to that naturally found in the DNA double helix, the basis of life, thus the name. Gamma radiation would have been too high-energy, resulting in something like the Hulk. She didn’t tell Coulson this. “Didn’t really go her way, did it?”

 

“Not so much,” Coulson agreed. “When he’s not that thing though, the girl’s like a Stephen Hawking.” Stephanie looked up at him. She had seen Dr. Hawking on one of those public broadcast science shows before, she had grown fond of putting them on while she read a history book or one of those poorly written smuts (her favorites were westerns). Did Coulson mean that Banner was just intelligent or actually had some chronic disability?

 

“She’s like a smart person,” Coulson clarified. Stephanie nodded. “I gotta say,” Coulson said. “It is an honor to meet you, officially.” Stephanie was familiar with this. There were a lot of guys overseas who liked her for her dancing with Gene Kelly. Now, at least, it seemed Coulson liked her because she was a superhero. She gave him a kind smile, the ones that she had been taught. “I sort of met you,” Coulson continued “I watched you while you were sleeping.” Stephanie tried to keep her expression calm, but she set down the tablet and stood to her full height, moving around in hope Coulson would realize she didn’t want to chat. He instead felt like he needed to correct himself. “I mean I was - I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a - a huge honor to have you on board.”

 

“I’m just here for some historical input,” Stephanie shrugged. “Once the world is safe again, I’m looking forward to returning to my retirement. I am ninety-three, after all.”

 

Coulson nodded, “Of course. I wish we weren’t in these circumstances at all. But since we are here, well, our chances are better because of you.”

 

How old was this man? His parents were probably children when the war happened. She decided she wasn’t going to let herself get too annoyed with Coulson. She imagined that Captain America was an influence of his childhood, and she was glad that both boys and girls were looking up to her and her integrated unit as a symbol of goodness and patriotism.

 

“Thank you,” Stephanie said, offering him the sincerest smile she could.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I appreciate your feedback in all its many forms. 
> 
> What do you think that we've now been introduced to all the Avengers so far? Who's your favorite? What are you looking forward to, and what are you dreading?
> 
> Thank you again, until the next one!


	5. Convocation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for your continued support and feedback in its many forms! I hope you enjoy this update!

The Quinjet landed on a massive battleship. Stephanie followed Coulson out of the plane and onto the runway.

 

“Agent Romanoff, this is Captain Barnes,” Coulson introduced Stephanie to a young person. Stephanie shook the person’s hand while trying not to look confused. She had never before seen someone whose features lacked any indication of sex. Or rather, possessed too many conflicting signs. The harder Stephanie looked, the less she understood.

 

“If you’re trying to figure out if I’m a boy or a girl,” Romanoff said. “I should warn you it often changes.”

 

“I hope I haven’t offended you,” Stephanie said, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “Is this common in the future?”

 

“No,” Agent Romanoff shook their head. “I’m special.” Romanoff turned to Coulson, “They need you on the bridge.”

 

Coulson nodded and headed inside the warship, leaving Stephanie with Romanoff.

 

“There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

 

“Trading cards?” Stephanie asked. Then she worried. “I’m fully clothed in those, right?”

 

“You worried Coulson has your nudes?” Romanoff asked.

 

“I did pin-ups for the USO back in the day,” Stephanie said. “Signed those for men more than I’d like to admit.”

 

“You learn something new every single day,” Romanoff smiled.

 

They noticed a woman step out of a Quinjet and start to look around, wringing her hands. Stephanie and Nat recognized Dr. Banner, looking a bit nervous. She was wearing what seemed to  be her only outfit, an oversized tweed blazer, a purple blouse, and well-worn khaki pants. She looked to avoid every single person who walked near her as if shying away from humanity on instinct.

 

“Dr. Banner,” Stephanie called, heading over and offering her hand to the woman who had tried to recreate her.

 

“Oh, yeah, hi,” Bertie said, turning down the handshake with crossed arms. It didn’t seem rude, it was as if she just wanted to avoid contact with everyone. “They told me you’d be coming.”

 

“Word is you can find the cube,” Stephanie said.

 

“Is that the only word on me?” Bertie asked.

 

“The only word I care about,” Stephanie gave Bertie her best and most reassuring Captain America smile. Banner’s lips quirked up.

 

“Must be strange to you, all this,” Bertie motioned around.

 

Stephanie shook her head, “This is familiar.” Indeed, being on a military base was far too familiar for her liking. How did she feel more at home here than in her actual home with her son?

 

A third Quinjet docked a ways away, and three women stepped out of it. They all immediately recognized the tall alien woman, Thordis. The two women with her must be Dr. Jane Foster and Jane’s intern. Thordis did not look like an alien Princess. She was wearing a red flannel shirt, and Jane was wearing a blue flannel shirt. The intern, Darcy, was the only one with variety, wrapped in a hooded cardigan. The agent who escorted those three motioned over to where Stephanie, Nat, and Bertie 

 

“You’re Captain America,” Darcy said to Stephanie accusingly.

 

“That’s what they say,” Stephanie agreed.

 

“Dr. Banner, correct?” Jane asked Bertie.

 

“Dr. Foster,” Bertie greeted her. There was a moment of silence as the two scientists stared at each other.

 

“I actually read your article about gravitational lensing-” Bertie started.

 

At the same moment, Jane said: “-Your work with high-energy nuclear recoils-”

 

They both stopped, smiling in the way physicists do.

 

“You must be Thordis, the Princess of Asgard,” Stephanie said, turning to the last woman in this group.

 

“And you are Captain Barnes of America, the greatest female warrior on Earth,” Thordis said. “Darcy has told me much of your history. It is an honor to meet you.”

 

Stephanie smiled. “The pleasure is mine.”

 

“Ladies,” Nat greeted the group, “You may want to step inside in a minute, it’s gonna get a little hard to breathe.”

 

“Is this a submarine?” Stephanie asked. The ship began to creak and rattle. The group moved to the railing to see what was going on.

 

“Really?” Bertie asked. “They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?”

 

The group watched as whirlpools of water formed off the board of the ship, the ship began to lift into the air, the massive propellers becoming apparent. Many of them gaped as the helicarrier started to rise above the water, enthralled.

 

“Oh, no, this is much worse,” Bertie declared brightly. The five women followed Agent Romanoff inside. 

 

“We’re at lock, sir,” Agent Hill said just as Nat brought the group onto the bridge.

 

“Good, let’s vanish,” Fury said. The retro-reflective panels activated while the Helicarrier drifted into the sky. Fury turned to the group.

 

“Unfortunately, Miss Stark has decided to come and join us when she sees fit,” Fury said. “But she has assured us she will join us. In the meantime, let me welcome all of you to the Helicarrier.” He went around shaking the hands of those he hadn’t yet met personally. “Welcome, Dr. Foster, Miss Lewis, Princess Thordis,” Fury approached Bertie, “Dr. Banner, thank you for coming.”

 

“Thanks for asking nicely,” Banner replied. “So, uh, how long am I staying?”

 

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the clear,” Fury promised.

 

“Where are you with that?” Bertie asked. Fury turned to Coulson.

 

“We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us,” Coulson said.

 

“That’s still not going to find them in time,” Nat added.

 

“You have to narrow down the field,” Bertie said. “How many spectrometers do you have access to?”

 

“How many are there?” Fury asked. The answer was clear: All of them.

 

“Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays,” Bertie said.

 

Jane piped in, “Can’t you also use microwave imaging cameras? The Sunyaev Zel’dovich effect should make any inverse Compton scattering visible on a low-frequency imaging satellite.”

 

“Right,” Bertie said. “Like with cosmic microwave backgrounds. I didn’t think of that.”

 

“Well, you’re not an astrophysicist,” Jane smiled.

 

“We can work on a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition,” Bertie said. “Do you have a place for us to work?” She asked Fury

 

“Agent Romanoff, show Doctor Foster, Doctor Banner, and Miss Lewis to the laboratory, please,” Fury said.

 

“You’re gonna love it, girls,” Nat said with a smile. “We’ve got all the toys.” 

 

* * *

 

 

Miles away, Claire Barton walked into a laboratory where Dr. Selvig was setting up a place to continue his work, now for Loki.

 

“Where did you find all these people?” Selvig asked.

 

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has no shortage of enemies, doctor,” she said. She held up a tablet, “Is this the stuff you need?”

 

“Yes, Iridium, It's found in meteorites, it forms anti-protons. It's very hard to get hold of.”

 

“Especially if S.H.I.E.L.D. knows you need it,” Claire agreed.

 

“Well, I didn’t know!” Selvig said with a laugh. They noticed Loki arrive, “Hey! The Tesseract is showing me so much. It's more than just knowledge, it's... truth.”

 

Loki smiled, “I know, and what did it show you, Agent Barton?”

 

“My next target,” Claire said. She had indeed found a place in Germany where she could get her hands on the supply that Selvig needed. The only issues were the security. She passed the tablet to Loki, and he looked at what was on the screen, scanning the files she pulled. “Time is of the essence, here, I suggest we head to Germany immediately.”

 

“Tell me what you need” Loki requested.

 

“I’ll need a distraction,” Claire lifted her bow and quiver. “And an eyeball.”

 

* * *

 

 

“What was your brother like?” Stephanie asked Thordis. Neither of them wanted to step on the scientists’ toes. They waited at the conference table on the bridge with Fury, Coulson, and Hill. “Clearly he’s changed - if this is him.”

 

“Loki was clever,” Thordis said. “I could never plan my actions in battle very far ahead. Loki was not a fearsome warrior, but with his illusions and his wit, he could often outsmart or trick his opponents. But he was not… when I last saw him, he was the King of Asgard. He would have always been the better ruler between the two of us, I did not have the wisdom for diplomacy. What I don’t understand is, if this is him, what happened. He is no longer the King of Asgard, as it seems. The Bifrost seems not to be working, or else he would have come to Earth traversing such. I fear something happened to Asgard, but that does not explain his… my brother was never malevolent. We were siblings, so there was of course rivalry, but I never feared that he wanted to hurt others, control others.” Thordis was clearly hiding how distraught she was from all of this. Stephanie couldn’t imagine being in her position. If someone she loved from her past suddenly appeared as a dangerous murderer, Stephanie wouldn't know how to handle it. She was impressed by Thordis for her ability to keep calm through all of this so far. She offered Thordis a sympathetic expression.

 

“Perhaps he’s not as in control as he seems,” Stephanie said. “That weapon he’s using can control minds, right?”

 

Thordis nodded, “That is a possibility I have considered, if Loki is being controlled by either the spear he wields or a more traditional route, like coercion or ransom. That also makes me fear for the state of affairs in Asgard, if their King is without power. I can only hope perhaps my father awoke or my mother has taken the throne in his place.” Thordis’ face of worry faded to a friendly smile as Agent Coulson approached the table.

 

“Settling in alright, Captain? Princess?”

 

“Verily, Son of Coul,” Thordis smiled.

 

“I hope it’s not too much of a bother, Captain, you don’t have to feel obligated to-”

 

“Agent Romanoff told me about your trading cards, I would be happy to sign them,” Stephanie said with a polite smile.

 

“I mean - if it’s not too much trouble-”

 

“No, it’s fine,” Stephanie assured him.

 

He brightened up at that, “It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but-”

 

Coulson’s excited explanation of his cards was cut short by Sitwell on one of the monitors, “We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, crossmatch, seventy-nine percent.”

 

“That certainly looks like Loki,” Thordis agreed. “Which is strange, he is a master of illusion. Why would he risk his face being seen?”

 

“Location?” Coulson asked.

 

“Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding.”

 

“Let me go to him,” Thordis said. “Let me speak to him.”

 

Coulson looked to Fury. Fury nodded, “You’re up, Princess. Captain, would you like to co-pilot with Agent Romanoff?”

 

“Last time I piloted anything I crashed it into a glacier,” Stephanie said. She stood up, “But if you insist, I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing what Loki’s up to. Is it fine if I stay in civilian gear?”

 

Fury nodded.

 

“I must inform Jane of my departure, excuse me,” Thordis said. She met Stephanie and Nat in a docking bay two minutes later.

 

The flight to Germany was quick. It seemed like Nat was gunning the Quinjet the whole way there. Stephanie sat in the copilot seat, while Thordis stood behind them, watching the sky. She continued to open and close her hand.

 

When the jet arrived in Stuttgart, crap had already hit multiple fans.  They had gotten reports of a man attacking a distinguished scientist at a gala, and as they arrived at the museum, the crowd of guests was contained in a ring of Loki illusions. With the Quinjet’s retro-reflective panels activated, they could get close enough to hear what was going on without being seen.

 

Loki’s voice crackled through the audio feeds, “It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes-” 

 

Stephanie and Nat glanced at Thordis who sighed and shook her head, “Get me near him.” Nat pulled the jet over the museum.

 

“-your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity-”

 

“If you need me to drop lower-” Nat began.

 

“-You will always kneel.” Loki’s speech finished.

 

“No need,” Thordis said. She jumped out of the plane.

 

“Not to men like you,” A voice said. An old man was standing in the crowd now.

 

“There are no men like me,” Loki said.

 

“There are always men like you,” The man spat.

 

“Look to your elder, people,” Loki declared charging up his spear for a blast “Let him be an ex-”

 

“LOKI! Shut up!” Thordis called. She had landed and pulled herself to the perimeter of the crowd. “Let these people go.”

 

“Ah, I was wondering when you would come to defend your precious Earth,” Loki turned to her. His illusions flickered and faded. People started to run.

 

“Where is the Tesseract?” Thordis asked.

 

“I missed you too,” Loki said, beaming at her.

 

“Do I look to be in a gaming mood? Why are you here, Loki? What has happened to you, to Asgard? What about our father-”

 

“ _ Your _ father,” Loki spat. “I’m not your brother! I never was!”

 

“This is like a soap opera,” Nat said to Stephanie where they were listening in the Quinjet. Stephanie was inclined to agree.

 

“Did he never tell you my true parentage?” Loki asked, a sneer carved into his face. “I am Loki, son of Laufey. The bastard runt of Jotunheim!”

 

Thordis was surprised. Was this why Loki was here? When did Loki learn this? Either Father told him before he went into the Odinsleep, or Father told him after he awoke from it, which may  have explained what sent Loki on this path.

 

“Son of Laufey or not, you are my brother. We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?” 

 

“I remember you left!” Loki said. “You refused to come home because you loved Earth more than you loved me!”

 

“That could not be further from the truth, Loki, I sacrificed everything to keep the peace between our realms for you and for Asgard. Refusing to return home was the hardest decision I ever  made,” Thordis said. “I mourned you. Not a day went by that I didn’t miss home. But the lives that would be lost to war outweighed all of it. You do not need to take the Earth as recompense for these imagined slights, Loki.” Thordis said. 

 

“If you help me uphold my promise to the Chitauri, sister, I can return both of us home.”

 

“At what cost?” Thordis asked. “The Earth is under my protection now, Loki.”

 

“And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, where is your protection then? I mean to rule them. And why should I not?”

 

“You think yourself above them,” Thordis said.

 

“Well, yes,” Loki said.

 

Thordis sighed, “Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. Your time as King of Asgard has suited you ill.”

 

“I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it-”

 

“Who showed you this power? Who controls the would-be-king?”

 

“I am a king!” Loki roared.

 

“Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!”

 

“I have sent it off, I do not know where,” Loki leered. “And you have not just sacrificed your right to the throne to be here, you have sacrificed your power.” He pointed his spear at her threateningly, the yellow gemstone in it charging a blast.

 

“Brother, for all you claim to know, you know very little,” Thordis said.

 

Behind him, a hard object streaked through the air and knocked Loki onto his face from behind, the scepter tumbled from his hand. The Thordis caught the object, and in a blast of lightning, she transformed. She was now standing in the middle of the courtyard in full armor, wielding a war hammer. Lightning crackled off the metal plates of her new outfit as if she was irradiating raw power.

 

“She shoulda led with that,” Stephanie said. Nat nodded, craving popcorn for times like these.

 

Loki scrambled for the spear, but an arc of electricity snapped at his hand, and he pulled away. Thordis circled him and put herself between him and his spear.

 

“Yield,” Thordis ordered. “I don’t want to hurt you, brother.” He continued to try to back away, but jolts of electricity made him jump from foot to foot. As this occurred, the console of the jet started malfunctioning. Nat was confused, pressing several buttons. Then, a loud rock song started playing over the jet’s speakers.

 

“Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?” A woman’s voice asked. A missile knocked Loki off his feet and onto his backside.

 

Nat sighed. “You’ve arrived just in time to annoy everyone, Stark.”

 

“Are you saying I missed Shakespeare in the park?” Toni Stark said. She landed beside Thordis and Loki, “Cool hammer.”

 

“Thank you, metal woman,” Thordis said. She swiveled back to glaring at her brother. Toni also focused her weapons on the alien sitting on his ass. Loki slowly rose his hands up in surrender, the illusion of his battle armor fading.

 

The Quinjet landed, they cuffed Loki, brought him on board, and strapped him into one of the seats.

 

“Captain,” Toni greeted Stephanie, pulling her helmet off her head.

 

“Miss Stark,” Stephanie replied politely, giving her a nod.

 

“You riding back with us, Stark?” Nat asked.

 

“The more eyes on Elphaba, the better,” Toni said.

 

“Elphaba?” Stephanie questioned.

 

“She’s a singing witch who’s green.”

 

“Like the Wicked Witch from  _ The Wizard of Oz _ ?”

 

“Yeah, but from a different - they made a few new adaptations, Elphaba is from the musical.”

 

“The movie was already a musical.”

 

“Yeah, but a Broadway musical. You know, you probably missed some things while you were doing time as a Capsicle.”

 

Stephanie laughed, “How long did it take for you to come up with that one?”

 

“Romanoff, report,” Fury ordered over the communication line.

 

“Hammer apprehended Goat. The Can joined us. Heading back to HQ,” Nat said as they shifted the controls and the Quinjet shot through the sky.

 

Thordis tried talking to Loki, and Toni tried annoying him, but neither of them could get any response from him.

 

“Has he said anything?” Fury asked a while later, they weren’t very far out.

 

“Not a word,” Nat said.

 

“Well, just get him here, we’re low on time,” Fury said.

 

“I don’t like it,” Stephanie said quietly. Thordis and Toni stood at the edge of the cockpit, while Loki was strapped in the back of the jet. They were all speaking quietly enough that he would not overhear.

 

“What?” Toni asked.

 

“He surrendered quickly,” Stephanie said. “Usually they go down kicking. I don’t remember it ever being this easy.”

 

“So, what, you think he’s here because he wants to be?” Toni asked.

 

Stephanie looked at Thordis, “You said your brother is good at scheming. Multiple steps ahead. Why did he make a show of himself in the first place, is he that egotistical?”

 

“Loki is definitely here for his own reasons,” Thordis said. “He could have easily used illusions to slip away and distract us. He did not. Why I cannot imagine.”

 

Stephanie was quiet for a while, “Any of you ever read the Iliad?”

 

“About the Trojan War?” Nat asked.

 

“Remember how it ended?” Stephanie asked. Toni nodded gravely.

 

“I am not familiar with your famous Midgardian battles, unfortunately,” Thordis said.

 

“We’ll clue you in later, Xena,” Toni assured her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> As always, your feedback is appreciated! What did you think of this chapter? I know some of you were looking forward to the brawl in the woods, but I didn't feel like it made sense for this group of characters. If any of you would like a longer explanation, I would be happy to provide.
> 
> Until next time!


	6. Acquaintance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has been reading and providing feedback so far, I appreciate it, and I hope you all look forward to this next chapter. It's, unfortunately, a bit shorter than the other ones so far, but I'll try to update again soon to compensate.

 

Jane met the Quinjet on the runway when the group unloaded Loki. She glared after him and then turned to see Toni, Thordis, Stephanie and Nat deboarded. Jane stopped Thordis. The rest of the group moved on.

 

“You didn’t tell me you had that thing,” Jane said to Thordis, eyes wide, arms crossed. “I didn’t think you could-”

 

“I’m sorry, Jane,” Thordis said. “I should have told you when I first realized I became worthy of my power once more, but I did sincerely hope I would not have to wield Mjolnir.”

 

“Does that mean you could have gone back to Asgard?” Jane asked.

 

Thordis shook her head, “My exile did not change.”

 

“I don’t like it when people keep things from me,” Jane said.

 

“I am sorry,” Thordis said.

 

“Let’s head inside,” Jane said. “How’s Loki?”

 

“It is Loki,” Thordis shook her head, “But he has changed so much, I barely know him. I wish I knew what happened on Asgard in my exile. Loki claims that we are not true siblings. He learned in my absence that he was adopted.”

 

“I mean, that’s a shock to anyone, but why is he doing this? Is being adopted so bad?”

 

Thordis pondered this. Initially, her thought would have been "no." Regardless of Loki's heritage, he was still her family, still her brother. Why he didn't recognize this was astounding to her. But, she could not be naive. It was most certainly a shock to realize that Loki's heritage was from Jotunheim of all places. That certainly made things far more complicated, as the Jotun and the Aesir were sworn enemies. Loki would have wondered why Odin had taken in the runt, bastard son of his enemy. Thordis wondered the same. Was Loki a trophy, a final testament to Asgard's victory, the son of Jotunheim's king raised to protect the daughter of Odin? Thordis did not think Loki as a trophy for Asgard, but what Loki thought was far more important. Thordis shook her head, “I wish I knew. We were inseparable as children. Now, he is a stranger to me.”

 

“If there’s anything I can do-”

 

“Yes, how did the Trojan War end?” Thordis asked. “The Captain said something, a suggestion for Loki’s scheme. I did not understand.”

 

“Um,” Jane blinked. “Let’s see, uh, the Greeks pretended to surrender and gave the Trojans a huge wooden statue of a horse as a gift. But, they hid a bunch of men inside the horse, so when it became dark, they were able to sneak out of the statue and open the gates of Troy, letting in the rest of their army.”

 

Thordis nodded, “I understand now, thank you, Jane.”

 

Thordis, Jane, Stephanie, Bertie, and Nat found themselves seated at the conference table in the bridge. Fury went to speak to Loki in his containment unit. Darcy was tasked with keeping an eye on the algorithm while Jane and Bertie were away. They watched on screens as Fury confronted Loki.

 

“In case it's unclear. You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass-” Fury pressed a button and beneath the cage, a hole opened, wind gusting and roaring beneath Loki’s glass cage. He glanced down, indifferent. “- Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?” He pointed to Loki, “Ant,” he pointed to the control panel, “Boot.”

 

Loki smirked, “It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me.”

 

“Built for something a lot stronger than you,” Fury said.

 

“Oh, I’ve heard.” He looked at the camera, looking at the group in the briefing room. “The mindless beast makes a play she's still a woman. How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”

 

“How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control.  You talk about peace, and you kill ‘cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate.” Fury’s steely gaze was unwavering, “You might not be glad that you did.”

 

“Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind?” Loki smiled knowingly, “And then to be reminded what real power is.”

 

Fury turned around and started to leave, “Well, let me know if ‘Real Power’ wants a magazine or something.”

 

“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Bertie joked.

 

“You may be right, Captain, about his plot,” Thordis said. “He seems glad to be here. But how will he betray us from the inside?”

 

“Either he has something we didn’t catch, or something we did catch isn’t what it seems,” Stephanie said. She turned to Nat, “Did you check for any communication or espionage equipment?”

 

“He’s not bugged,” Nat said. “At least not in a way we can track.”

 

“He’s also clearly obsessed with you, Dr. Banner,” Stephanie said. “And your potential. He may see you as exploitable, unfortunately.”

 

“Think he’s gonna use me?” Bertie smiled, “Wouldn’t be the first guy to try.”

 

“His spear is not of Aesir design,” Thordis said. “I believe it to be Chitauri, as he mentioned an alliance with them. That would explain his use of the Tesseract. He means to open a portal, he claims to have an army. The Chitauri are well known for their large legions controlled by a unified mind. They likely will win him the Earth for the Tesseract.”

 

“A hive army from outer space,” Stephanie sighed, sinking into her chair. She knew when she agreed to Fury that she would help as a strategist for S.H.I.E.L.D. that there was a very high likelihood she would have to hit something before the end of this mission. She knew that, sooner or later, she would have to violate the terms of her voluntary early retirement. She had not expected that she might end up hitting aliens. Aliens. It was like her life was turning into one of those weird science books that Bucky had loved so much. She knew if there was a threat of alien invasion, there was no way she could sit idly by. But it was becoming clearer and clearer that her life was going to become stranger and she was not sure that she was at all comfortable with how quickly and how strangely things were changing. She would defend the Earth. She knew that, because if the planet fell, her son would be in danger. But she also knew that she was not eager to fight Fury's war, and especially if it was going to be against aliens.  _Aliens from space_. 

 

“If he’s building another portal, that’s why he took Erik,” Jane said.

 

“Iridium,” Bertie said. “Why do they need Iridium?”

 

“It’s a stabilizing agent,” Toni Stark said, walking in. She had taken the time to change out of her Iron Maiden suit and into an actual suit. She wore a royal blue blazer, matching trousers, and a faded band t-shirt. She was also speaking to Coulson, “I'll fly you to Portland sometime. Keep the love alive.” She turned back to the group, “It means the portal won’t collapse in on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.” She stood up on the bridge, facing the crew, and it looked like she was trying to be as obnoxious as possible. “Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the topsails.” She scanned the room and then dramatically pointed, “That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did.” She covered one of her eyes and looked at the control panels where Fury stands. “How does Fury do this?” She asked.

 

“He turns,” Maria Hill said, wholeheartedly unimpressed.

 

“Well, that sounds exhausting.” Toni declared. As she left his control panel, one of her hands lingered on the side of the access port for a moment. “I’m moving on from limbs to other prosthetic devices, tell him to call me if he ever wants a new eye.” She motioned to the mentioned body part as if they didn't know where it was. Then she went back to discussing the Tesseract, “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get her hands on pretty easily. Only major component Loki still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”

 

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Hill asked.

 

“Last night,” Toni shrugged. “The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”

 

“No,” Jane and Bertie said at the same time as if insulted Toni would dare suggest they didn’t do their homework.

 

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Stephanie asked the room.

 

“He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier,” Bertie said.

 

“Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect,” Toni declared.

 

“That means he was able to solve Schrodinger's equation beyond the quasiclassical WBK estimation,” Jane said. “He couldn’t do that in a day. Thordis, is it possible Loki helped him?”

"Loki did have an understanding of magic similar to your knowledge of physics," Thordis said. "But I do not know how applicable out studies are with your resources."

 

“If he did manage, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet,” Bertie said.

 

“Finally, some people here who actually speak English,” Toni said, approaching the two scientists.

 

“Is that what happened?” Stephanie asked.

 

Toni shook Jane’s hand and then Bertie’s hand. The trio all had a gleam in their eyes.

 

“Dr. Foster, I was fascinated to hear about your discovery of quantum phase shifts allowing faster-than-light travel. And, Dr. Banner, your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. Also I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

 

Bertie dropped the eye contact, “Thanks.”

 

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube,” Fury said, entering. “I was hoping you could join her and Dr. Foster.”

 

“With pleasure,” Toni winked at them,

 

“I’d also like to know more about this stick of his. Is it powered by the cube?”

 

“They’re different colors,” Stephanie shook her head.

 

“Astute observation, Captain,” Toni said.

 

“My point is, any weapon made with the Tesseract as an energy source always had that blue glow,” Stephanie said. “His stick is yellow. Meaning he has one object that can open portals and one object that can control minds, both of which double as energy sources that glow a primary color. They're similar, but not the same. Different objects of similar origin, perhaps?" She squinted in thought.

 

“Captain?” Fury asked.

 

“We’re trying to track the Tesseract because it has special radiation,” Stephanie said. “What if they’re doing the same thing?”

 

“What do you mean?” Fury asked.

 

“You think Loki’s spear is uniquely traceable?” Toni asked.

 

“Does it emit some weird radiation signal thing?” Stephanie said. 

 

“We could find out,” Toni said.

 

“You should,” Fury said.

 

“Shall we play, doctors?” Toni asked Jane and Bertie.

 

“Let’s play some,” Bertie said, the three of them headed off to the lab.

 

"I should probably accompany Jane," Thordis said, following.

"Agent Romanoff, I need you to talk to Loki," Fury said. "Give him some time, come up with a good play. But before the end of the night, please."

"Yes, sir," Nat nodded. "I'll observe him for a bit and come up with an idea."

"Captain, you're more than welcome to get some rest," Fury said.

"I'm alright, sir," Stephanie said. "I would like a chance to check in at home, but I think it's better if I help figure out what's going on here."

"Very well," Fury said. He nodded for her to leave and turned to his bridge. 

 

Stephanie went to the small, bare room S.H.I.E.L.D. had given her to stay overnight. Her bag was on the bed, she pulled her phone out of her purse and call her niece. “Hi, Rachel.”

 

“Aunt Steph,” Rachel replied. “Is everything alright? Long day?”

 

“We’re still working,” Stephanie said. “How is James?”

 

“We just put him down for the night, Mom went to bed too. Your friend Sam dropped by, she wasn’t happy to hear you were working.”

 

Stephanie had completely forgotten to tell Sam she was going to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. She sighed, “I’ll talk to her later.” The looming threat of alien invasion was definitely making Stephanie nervous, “And James is eating alright? His metabolic rate is higher than the average-”

 

“You left us enough milk to feed the Army, Stephanie, we’re not gonna starve him,” Rachel said. “But he does miss you. I can tell he’s looking for you.”

 

“I don’t know how long it’s going to be.”

 

“We’ll be here,” Rachel assured her. “He’s in good hands.”

 

“I know,” Stephanie sighed. “Look, I have work to do-”

 

“Save the world,” Rachel said. “We’ll be here when you come home.”

 

Stephanie hung up and then looked at her phone notifications. Sure enough, she had two missed calls and a handful of texts from Sam. She sent her a text

 

> Sorry about not telling, very abrupt. Government needs me for consult from past, confidential. I’ll text when back in Brooklyn.

> ✓ Read at 22:56

 

Stephanie tucked her phone back into her purse, put her bag back on the bed, and decided that she wanted to talk to Toni Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed this update. Your feedback, as always, is appreciated in its many forms.
> 
> What did you guys think of the interactions between the team so far? What are you looking forward to?
> 
> Thanks again, until the next chapter!


	7. Trick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your kind words on the previous chapters! I hope you're all enjoying this so far and are looking forward to this one!

The lab was split in two. On one half, Jane and Darcy were using satellites and spectroscopy to try to trace gamma radiation. On the other half, Bertie was helping Toni study Loki’s spear.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process," Bertie said as she looked at the spear's readings. "I don't know if it's uniquely traceable until with process those readings and create a profile."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops," Toni said as she coded an algorithm while intermittently solving equations as they appeared on her screen.

"And all I packed was a toothbrush," Bertie joked.

Toni smiled, "You know you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Both of you, Dr. Foster, you ass well!" Toni called over to Jane on the other side of the lab. Jane nodded and smiled politely. "The top ten floors are all R&D - you'd love it, it's Candyland."

 

"Thanks, but the last time I was in Berlin, I kind of broke... Harlem," Bertie admitted.

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," Toni said, making her way around the lab bench and picking up a probe. "No tension, no surprises-" she jabbed the probe into Bertie's side.

"Ow!" Bertie exclaimed just as Stephanie walked in to observe the exchange. She paused in the doorway, but Bertie seemed fine, so she continued heading into the room.

“Nothing?” Toni questioned. “You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow Jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”

Stephanie was reminded of Howard  - how he was so enraptured in something that he found fascinating that he lost all common sense. It was usually then Stephanie's job to remind Howard of his own mortality and limitations. “If you have a death wish, Miss Stark, I assure you that bullets are quicker,” Stephanie said, crossing her arms, “No offense, Dr. Banner.”

“No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things,” Bertie said.

“You’re tiptoeing, big mama, you need to strut,” Toni declared to Bertie, strutting around the lab bench as an example.

“Found anything useful yet?” Stephanie asked Toni.

"We know it definitely emits some amount of gamma radiation," Toni said.

 

"And? Are they tracing it?" Stephanie asked, 'they' being, of course, whoever Loki was working with.

“It’s been maybe fifteen minutes, Cap. I’m impressive, but I’m not _that_ impressive.”

 

“What about the gizmo you put on Fury’s control panel? Found anything from that?”

 

“Oh, noticed that, Cap?” Toni said. “You didn’t say anything.”

“I assume you have questions that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t answering,” Stephanie said.

“Oh, I am,” Toni nodded. “Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

“Can I help?” Stephanie asked. 

Toni’s brow furrowed, “You don’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Why would I trust S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Stephanie seemed legitimately surprised.

“You’re Captain America, aren’t you supposed to trust the government no matter what?” Toni asked.

Stephanie crossed her arms and decided not to address that. “I didn’t like Loki’s jab at Fury about the cube. I don’t see why these people wouldn’t be using something like the Tesseract to develop weapons.”

“I was wondering that too,” Bertie said quietly. “Stark Tower is the first clean-energy building, run entirely on Stark reactors. She’s the biggest name in clean energy.”

“Actually, I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now,” Toni bragged.

“Exactly. So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring Toni in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files,” Toni said. “JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, we'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide.” Toni picked up a bag and offered it to Stephanie, “Blueberry?”

“No thank you,” Stephanie said politely. Toni shrugged and shoved a handful of blueberries into her mouth.

“So you really want to help  _ me _ ?” Toni asked.

“Like you said, can’t do an equation without all the variables. I won’t be able to figure out what to do about Loki until I know exactly what’s going on here. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a part of that, especially since they seem to have caused this whole situation.”

“Banner and I need to stay in the lab, maybe you could explore the ship, see if you could find some secrets the old-fashioned way. You know, something more your speed," Toni suggested.

“I’m more worried about what Loki will do than I am of what S.H.I.E.L.D. has done,” Stephanie said. “Don’t forget him either.”

“I can multitask,” Toni said.

“I hope so,” Stephanie said, turning around and walking out of the lab.

“So that’s the woman my father never shut up about,” Toni said, watching her go. Maybe her ass was perfect, but the rest of her wasn’t. “It’s like they never took her off the ice. I can’t imagine Captain Uptight getting along with Daddy back in his party boy days. Maybe when I knew him. I feel like I'm thirteen again, I swear.”

“She did just wake up from World War Two a few months ago,” Bertie said. “And she’s not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us.”

“What he’s got is an ACME dynamite kit, It’s gonna blow up in his face,” Toni said. “And I am going to be there when it does.”

“And I’ll read all about it,” Bertie said.

“Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us,” Toni said.

“Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare.” Bertie walked over to a computer monitor suspended from the ceiling.

Toni followed her, standing on the other side of the clear monitor. “You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart, this is stopping it.” She tapped her reactor, “And I have two legs made out of metal and plastic. They’re all part of me now, so they’re not just my armor. They’re a terrible privilege.”

“But you can control it,” Bertie said, dragging data onto the monitor, so Toni’s face was obscured.

“Because I learned how.”

“It’s different.”

Toni swiped the data away so she could look Bertie in the eyes, "Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you.”

“So you’re saying the Hulk saved my life?” Bertie asked. Toni nodded. “That’s a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?” There was a moment of silence.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Toni said.

“You might not like that.”

“You just might.”

 

* * *

 

Thordis, trying to be a good girlfriend, went to fetch coffee for Jane and Darcy as they would be working through the night. As she waited in the cafeteria line for coffee, she ran into Coulson.

“How are you holding up?” Coulson asked.

“I am alright, thank you,” Thordis said. “I have been thinking much of my brother, and what may have drawn him to do this. I fear much of it revolves around my actions.  It's no accident Loki taking Erik Selvig. I dread what he plans for him once he's done. Erik is a good man.” She and Coulson got their coffees and headed back to the bridge.

“He talks about you a lot. You changed his life. You changed everything around here, for the better,” Coulson said.

“Earth is not better with my presence,” Thordis shook her head. “I have become better because of Earth. We pretend on Asgard that we are more advanced, but we lack the compassion to care for the consequences our actions have on the other realms. That is the greatest virtue of your humanity, and I fear Loki will inspire you through fear to abandon it. In my youth, I courted war. On Earth, I now know to value peace.”

“War hasn’t started yet,” Fury said as they entered. “Do you think you can make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?”

Thordis sighed, “Loki is too wise to let himself know where the Tesseract is. He has made himself a useless prisoner to us, intentionally. And I fear the Captain his right, he is our prisoner because he wants to be. Because he is inviting something, or he has already invited something, with his presence.”

“So, you want me to dump him in the ocean?” Fury asked.

“I want to understand why he is doing this,” Thordis said.

 

* * *

 

Stephanie was on the tenth level, passing by hangar bays. She had decided, if S.H.I.E.L.D. were hiding something, they would put it in the back of their closet. The hangar bays were practically empty, except for bay C. That was the only bay with a guard, meaning it was precisely where Stephanie needed to go. She became lighter on her feet, she undid the top two buttons of her shirt, and her face morphed into that of beloved Captain America.

“You can’t be here, ma’am.”

“I’m so sorry,” She said, feigning an innocent and overwhelmed confusion, “I - I got really lost.”

“I understand, Captain,” he said. “Where were you headed?”

“Well I needed to get to the, um, armory and then there was this elevator, and I don’t understand the room numbers, and-”

“I can walk you,” the guard said. 

“Are you sure, I mean, you’re obviously doing something important-”

“No,” He said. “I just got the short end of the straw today to guard one of these stupid storage bays.”

Of course, they wouldn’t tell the agent if he was guarding something like the Tesseract-powered weapons.

“I am so sorry,” Stephanie said again, and she clocked him in the jaw. He slumped against the door, unconscious. He didn’t have any keycard on him to open the hangar doors, but Stephanie didn’t need a card. She smashed the card reader and then pried apart the doors. She dragged the guard inside and slumped him against a crate. The hangar was a maze of containers and boxes covered in tarps. She needed to get a better view to see what she was dealing with. She crouched low and did a vertical leap, fingers curling into the grating of the overhead catwalk. She swung forward, bending her hips and latching her knees around the railing. She then slipped back off the rail, stood up on the catwalk, and brushed herself off, looking for something out of place or hidden in plain sight. There were crates of wood and plastic, tarps haphazardly thrown across them, And then, sitting in the middle of the hangar, in the middle of a pile of plastic crates, was one suspiciously reinforced box. Stephanie dropped down. She undid the metal buckle clasps and pulled up the lid. The bad news was that the box was filled with Tesseract weapons. The good news was that they were clearly Hydra designs and models, and so S.H.I.E.L.D. probably wasn’t yet developing their own. She picked up a rifle with a glowing blue ammunition canister and went back upstairs to report back to Toni Stark.

 

* * *

 

Loki stopped pacing in his cell and smiled, turning to Nat. “You know, not many people can sneak up on me.”

Nat shrugged, “I’m not like many people. But, you did figure I’d come.”

“After,” Loki said. “After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate.”

“Torture? You really we’re that stupid? That’s for terrorist cells and the CIA. S.H.I.E.L.D. knows that physical harm yields unreliable intel.” Nat crossed their arms. “Any level one agent knows to ask nicely, so I’d really like to know what you’ve done to Agent Barton, please.”

“I’d say I’ve expanded her mind,” Loki said.

“And once you've won. Once you're king of the mountain. What happens to her mind?”

“Is this love, Agent Romanoff?” Loki asked.

Of course, Nat loved Claire, and they were going to use that vulnerability to make Loki underestimate them. “Love is for children, I owe her a debt,” Nat said unconvincingly.

“Tell me,” Loki asked, sitting in his chair.

“Are you gonna be my new therapist? Because I kind of broke the last one,” Nat said, sitting down. “Anyway,” they sighed dramatically, sitting splayed in the chair, completely relaxed, “Before I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., uh - well - I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, she made a different call.”

“And what will you do if I vow to spare her?” Loki asked.

“Not let you out,” Nat scoffed.

“Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one woman?”

“Regimes fall every day,” Nat shrugged. “I tend not to weep over that. I’m Russian. Or, I was.”

“What is it that you want?” Loki asked.

Nat shrugged, “It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out.”

“Can you?” Loki asked, “Can you wipe out that much red?”

“I could get a ShamWow towel,” Nat suggested.

Loki scoffed, “Drakov’s daughter? São Paulo? The Hospital Fire? Barton told me everything.” Nat made themself look surprised and uncomfortable. “Your ledger is dripping - it's gushing red, and you think saving a woman no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer - Pathetic!” He roared, slamming a hand on the glass. Nat startled, even though they saw the outburst coming a mile away. “You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away!” Nat stood up, as if they wanted to leave, “I won't touch Barton. Not until I make her kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every way, she knows you fear! And when she'll wake just long enough to see her good work, and when she screams, I'll split her skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!” He spat. 

Nat turned their back to Loki. “You’re a monster,” They said tearfully.

“No, you brought the monster,” Loki laughed. 

Nat turned around, tears evaporating, “Cap was right, Banner, that’s your play.”

“What?” Loki asked, taken aback.

“And Barton’s coming here, isn’t she?” Nat asked. “Are they tracing your stick?” Loki’s brow furrowed, and he staggered into the center of the glass prison. “Good to know,” Nat headed off the catwalk, “Thank you for your cooperation!” Nat called as they left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I adore your feedback in its many forms!
> 
> What did you think of the changes in Stephanie and Toni's interaction? Or Loki's interrogation? I'd love to hear what you all think so far and what you're looking forward to!
> 
> Thank you all again, until the next one!


	8. Chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years, everyone! I thought we could celebrate with an update.
> 
> Thank you so much for all of your kind feedback. I hope you like this chapter!

When Nick Fury stepped into the lab the next morning with Agent Romanoff at his heels, he knew that he had a problem. Miss Lewis was the only one supervising the Tesseract. Miss Stark, Captain Barnes, Doctors Foster and Banner, and Princess Thordis were all standing by Loki’s scepter, arms crossed, looking at Fury expectantly.

 

“Don’t you all have things you should be doing?” He asked the group. He had spoken to Nat about Loki’s suspected plan. They were expecting an ambush at any moment now, and he had to secure Dr. Banner. “Like locating the Tesseract?”

 

“We are,” Jane said.

 

“The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile,” Bertie explained.

 

“Darcy’s supervising the algorithm,” Jane added.

 

“And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss,” Toni swiveled around her computer monitor, “What’s Phase Two?”

 

“Phase Two is our program to develop clean energy with the Tesseract,” Fury said, he was lucky he had on his noncombustible trousers.

 

“Oh, Director,” Toni sighed. Behind her, Stephanie picked up something from behind the lab bench and set it on the table. It was one of the HYDRA tesseract weapons. Fury made a mental note to fire whoever was guarding that hangar. However, this was salvageable.

 

“We gathered everything related to the Tesseract, that does not mean that we’re-”

 

“I’m sorry, Nick,” Toni said, pulling up some schematics on the monitor. “What were you lying?”

 

“I wish I could say I was disappointed but I didn’t expect anything better from you,” Captain America said, packing as much shame as she could into every word.

 

“Did you know about this?” Bertie asked Agent Romanoff.

 

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?” Nat asked, silently confirming that they did know.

 

“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed,” Bertie said.

 

“Loki’s manipulating you,” Nat said.

 

“Loki’s in my cage,” Bertie said. “You’re the one in this room.”

 

“You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.”

 

“Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”

 

“Because of her,” Fury said, pointing to Thordis.

 

“Me?” Thordis asked, pointing to herself in shock.

 

“Two years ago, Earth had a visitor from another planet. And at your weakest, you destroyed a S.H.I.E.L.D. base,” Fury said. “We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”

 

“My father once said that a wise King must never seek out war but must always be ready for it,” Thordis said.

 

“That’s the only thing we’re doing, Princess,” Fury said.

 

“My father also tried to force me into marriage because he did not think that I had the power to rule Asgard without a husband and he stripped me to nothing when I disobeyed him,” Thordis said. “I do not trust those who share my father’s philosophies.”

 

“Look,” Fury said. “The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled-”

 

“Like you controlled the cube?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war,” Thordis declared.

 

“You forced our hand. We had to come up with  _ something _ .”

 

“Nuclear deterrent,” Toni scoffed. “Because  _ that _ always calms everything down.”

 

“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?” Fury asked.

 

“At least  _ she _ stopped,” Stephanie said.

 

“Look, Cap, you were right,” Nat said. “About the Trojan Horse. I got Loki to admit that people are coming here. Not to mention, he wants to release the Hulk. I’m not going to place a stake in this argument, but we have bigger things to worry about.”

 

“The issue,” Stephanie said. “Is that I’m not sure I want to take the Tesseract from one tyrant and give it to another. We’re leaving,” She motioned to the team, “Unless you can promise us that this program isn’t going to continue.”

 

“I’m not going to make deals with you,” Fury said.

 

“You heard him,” Toni sighed, closing the monitor. “I can fly you back to India, Doc, don’t worry about it-”

 

“Come on, Darcy!” Jane called.

 

“I thought humanity was more evolved than this,” Thordis said, shaking her head. “I will also be taking this,” She picked up the scepter. “As I do not trust keeping it in the hands of this  organization.”

 

“You aren’t going anywhere,” Fury stepped in front of the door.

 

“Don’t make me angry, director,” Bertie said, sounding unusually calm. “We both know you’re not going to like it if I get angry.”

 

“Yeah, I actually think she needs to let off a little steam,” Toni said.

 

“We need them, Director,” Nat said, admitting the obvious.

 

Fury sighed and stepped away from the door, “Agent Romanoff, please escort Dr. Banner-”

 

“Where?” Bertie asked. “You rented my room.”

 

“The cell was just in case-”

 

“In case you needed to kill me,” Bertie said. “But you can’t, I know, I tried!” She sighed, the room was silent. “I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other girl spat it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!” She sighed again, hard.

 

“Got it!” Darcy exclaimed from the other end of the lab. “The Tesseract is in… Oh, my God-”

 

And then everything went to shit as the floor below them exploded. The center of the lab caved in. Nat, Bertie, and Darcy all disappeared into the level below, while the rest of them had been close enough to the door that the ground beneath them didn’t completely crumble. 

 

“Hill?” Fury asked his earpiece, clutching his ribs. Toni had a piece of rebar through her prosthetic calf, the foot was sparking and twitching. She grunted and pulled the prosthetic off, kicking it into the cavern below.

 

“Where’s Darcy?” Jane asked. “What - where’s Darcy - she’s just a kid-”

 

“I will find her, but you must get to safety,” Thordis said, trying to push Jane out of the room, but Jane kept trying to look into the ruins of the lab to find Darcy.

 

“I need to get my suit on,” Toni said.

 

“Here,” Stephanie steadied herself on her feet, bent down, and clumsily pulled Toni off the floor and up into her arms.

 

“You really know how to sweep a girl off her foot, Cap,” Toni joked.

 

“Shut up, where do I go?” Stephanie asked. She carried Toni out of the ruined lab.

 

Thordis finally persuaded Jane to take the scepter from her and find somewhere safe to stay while Thordis found Darcy. She took the stairs to the lower level and pushed her way through the rubble in the equipment room. She saw Darcy, Nat, and Bertie. Nat was trapped under a fallen beam. Darcy was surrounded in broken glass of the shattered computers, and Bertie might have looked like she hadn’t received any bodily harm, but she was rocking back and forth of the ground and grunting. The vessels on her neck were strained, and slightly green. Thordis lifted the beam on Agent Romanoff.

 

“Get Darcy to safety,” Thordis ordered. “And then find Jane, she was headed to the sleeping quarters.” Nat didn’t have to be told twice. They helped a disoriented Darcy to her feet, and the two of them split away from the group, while Thordis was left to decide if she was going to abandon or calm down Bertie.

 

* * *

 

 

Two levels above, Stephanie was barrelling through the chaos of the Helicarrier, carrying Toni.

 

“Do I weigh anything to you?” Toni asked.

 

“Not really,” Stephanie said. They rounded a corner, and two men in tactical gear raised their weapons at them. They did not put the weapons down. They also weren’t wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. tac gear.

 

“They’re pointing guns!” Toni exclaimed.

 

“Yep,” Stephanie agreed. She swung Toni onto her left shoulder and charged at the men. She swung a kick into the head of the first man, he dropped to the ground, and she continued to twist with the momentum of the kick switching feet and slamming her other foot into the chest of the second man. He hit the wall so hard the steel behind him dented and his bones cracked. She continued charging through the corridor “Here?” They stopped in front of a room.

 

“Yeah,” Toni said. Stephanie pulled the door open and stepped inside, slipping Toni off her shoulder. Toni hopped on one foot and leaned against Stephanie all the way to the Iron Maiden suit. The front peeled backward for Toni as she stepped forward. She stepped into the suit, it closed around her, and the eyes started to glow.

 

“Comms?” Toni asked Stephanie. Stephanie fished the clear plastic cylinder out of her pocket and pushed it into her ear. The roof of Toni’s room opened, she blasted off. “Engine three, Cap, meet me there. It needs repairs if we don’t want to fall out of the sky, I’ll do some anti-aircraft in the meantime-” There was a muffled crackling over the comms, and Stephanie could hear actual explosions in the sky above the helicarrier. Stephanie sighed and continued to sprint through the helicarrier. 

 

 

* * *

Beneath them, Thordis had decided that she was going to do her best to help Dr. Banner calm down. The explosions that were continuing to rock the ship her not helping. It seemed every sudden jolt, every loud noise, every sharp light, they all made it harder for her to maintain control. Bertie was like a scared child in a thunderstorm, and Thordis was unsure of what to do. But she had seen the debriefing file of what Bertie’s other side was capable of.

 

“Banner, I cannot pretend to understand how difficult your condition is. If there is anything that I can do to help you-”

 

“Get me off this ship,” Bertie said, her voice was strange, like a wounded animal. “Before I-”

 

Thordis understood. She summoned Mjolnir. She spun her hammer as hard as she could, grabbed Banner by the wrist, and shot into the air. Mjolnir burst through the debris from the cave in, the roof of the lab, two more levels, and the runway of the helicarrier. As it did so, it dragged Thordis and Bertie along with it. Bertie was becoming harder and harder to hold onto. As Thordis ripped through the ship, dragging the doctor behind her, Bertie was growing larger and greener. Once they burst free, Thordis tilted Mjolnir and pulled Bertie off the helicarrier, throwing her off the side. She completed her sickening transformation in the air, clothes ripping off of her body as her flesh stretched and bulged with muscle, rippling and green.

 

“I am sorry!” Thordis called as Banner roared as she fell. Thordis stopped spinning Mjolnir and returned to the Helicarrier, she had one focus now: secure Loki.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Stark, I’m here,” Stephanie declared as she pushed into the room that was supposed to be for the third engine’s maintenance and engineering. The entire room had been ripped apart in the attack, exposed to the air that whipped around her. 

 

“Good, let’s see what we got,” Toni said, flying in and looking at the mess. “I gotta get this superconducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors and work on dislodging the debris,” She began pushing components into place. “I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position.”

 

The engine control panel she was referring to was on the other side of a large gap, where below it there was certain death. Stephanie took a few steps back, ran, jumped, grabbed a bar, swung, and clung to the side of a column. She then pushed off the column and onto the platform that would give her access to the panel. Toni continued to tear away debris, while Stephanie  opened up the engine control panel. It was more advanced than anything she had seen before while working with Howard, which was typical, it had been seventy goddamn years. She didn’t understand the silver and orange circuit system, but she did recognize some components of circuitry she had sketched in the past. That thing was a transistor, the gizmo next to it was a capacitor. Thin red tubes were running across the circuit system that was probably the pathways.

 

“What’s it look like in there?” Toni asked.

 

Stephanie said dryly, “It  _ seems _ to run on some form of electricity.”

 

“Well, You’re not wrong,” Toni said. “You need to look for the relays. They’re basically the switches.”

 

“Switches,” Stephanie repeated. “So, they would be between the power source and the-”

 

“Load output, yep,” Toni said.

 

“And overload relays-”

 

“They protect from surges. I need to know which ones were safe from the surge, so I know their motors are still functioning. So I need you to reset all the relays, see if the overloads are intact.”

 

“And to do that I will…”

 

“There should be a button that says ‘reset,’” Toni sighed. “And then they’ll turn on.”

 

“Okay,” Stephanie said. “Thank you for being patient.” She pressed the little reset buttons on the relays, and they all flickered to life. “Relays are intact, what’s our next move?” She asked.

 

Toni had finished clearing the debris around the rotors and had recalibrated the cooling system. Now, she had to clear the rotors and get them started. The engine wasn’t pretty, but it would keep them afloat.

 

“Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push.”

 

“Well, if that thing gets up to speed, you’ll be shredded,” Stephanie warned.

 

“That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev, and that could-”

 

“Get dumber,” Stephanie ordered.

 

Toni sighed. “You see that red lever?” she asked. Stephanie saw the red lever. It was on the other side of the huge gap to certain death. But, on the bright side, there was half a catwalk she could jump to and reach the lever from. “It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word.” Stephanie sighed, before running and jumping the gap again, landing hard  on the catwalk, which creaked, but thankfully, did not fall. She watched as Toni cut and broke debris away from the main rotors, listening hard on the comms. Stephanie saw two people in tactical gear, and masks step into the engineering section. They had assault rifles and were definitely not S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

“Oy vey,” She sighed, jumping off the catwalk in time to miss a grenade. She crossed the gap, pushed off a beam, and dropped onto the closest assailant, knee smashing into his face. He slumped on the ground. She kicked the gun out of the second man’s hand, it soared onto the catwalk above them, and then she kicked him square in the chest, he flew into the wall. The first one rose to his feet, dizzy, and delivered a sloppy swing. She ducked under it and pushed him off the helicarrier. More were coming, she saw them coming down the hall. She hurled a piece of debris at the entrance way and jumped onto the overhead catwalk, picking up the assault rifle and training it on the doorway. At least guns hadn’t changed all that much, all she had to do was point and shoot. The man stepped into the entranceway, spraying bullets in her direction. She squinted with one eye, trained the end of her gun at his goggles, and pulled the trigger. His head violently shook backward, and he slumped onto the ground. Stephanie returned to the lever, this time, her gun stayed trained on the entranceway as she listened over the  comms.

 

* * *

 

 

The bridge of the ship became a massive firefight. Throngs of men in tactical gear tried to breach the bridge so Claire Barton could climb into the rafters unnoticed. With a few arrows, she took out the control panels for navigation, communications, and engine one. She then snuck away in the aftermath of the helicarrier starting to shift and fall out of the sky.

 

Fury figured out what happened “It's Barton. She took out our systems. She's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?”

 

Nat had been looking for Jane for the last five minutes. They had brought Darcy to the rooms provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. in case anyone had needed some privacy, where Thordis said Jane would be. Jane, however, was not there. Darcy promised to sit tight, and Nat had searched the entire residential area and all the floors in between. Nat knew they should look for Jane, but Nat also knew that they wanted to find Claire. And quite frankly, Nat was too selfish to do anything other than look for Claire.

 

“This is Agent Romanoff, I copy,” Nat said, heading down to detention. Hopefully, they could find Jane Foster on the way.

 

On their way down, Nat realized where Claire was. Up above in the rafters, Nat could hear her heavy footfall. Nat climbed up the catwalk and swung silently into the rafters, following Claire. Claire must have noticed Nat anyway, turning around with a notched arrow. Nat grabbed the bow and leaned out of the way as Claire released the bowstring. Nat twisted Claire’s arm, but she spun out of Nat’s grasp and elbowed them across the jaw. Nat dodged the bow when Claire swung it like a club, turned, kicked Claire in the chest, and then swung down from the rafters onto a lower catwalk, but didn’t reach the catwalk, instead they took hold of the rafters from the bottom. Claire shot an arrow at the catwalk where she thought Nat would have ended up, and then, puzzling, stepped to the edge of the platform to try to see them. Nat swung forward, kicked Claire in the head, and landed back on the top of the rafters in a crouched position. Claire steadied herself a shot another arrow, Nat dodged it by swinging off of a support column and actually landing on the catwalk. Claire leaped from the rafters and followed Nat. She continued to swipe at Nat with her bow, Nat ducked and dodged under the swings. On an upstroke, Nat grabbed the bowstring and pulled it to their chest, locking both arms in front of their face as Claire slammed the bow into Nat’s guard several times, hoping to break it. Nat’s guard didn’t break, so Claire spun them against the railing of the catwalk and slammed their back into it, stepping into Nat’s space. Nat brought a knee into Claire’s ribcage and then backhanded her when she slid to one side, yanking the bow from Claire and tossing it to the levels below. 

 

Claire pulled a knife out of the holster, twirled it, and charged forward, bringing the knife down to Nat’s head. Nat blocked her arm with one hand and sent an uppercut into her solar plexus with the other, Claire doubled over, but sprung back up and tried to stab Nat again. Nat blocked her arm with one hand and used the other hand to punch Claire in the face. Claire stepped back, blading her stance, and Nat used this to twist her arm upward, trying to break her hold on the knife. Claire tossed the knife into the air with her wrist and caught it as she swung the opposite hand over Nat’s head as Nat ducked. Nat slipped both arms around Claire’s armed hand, forcing her elbow to bend taut and pulling it to the side so Claire couldn’t stab them. Claire grabbed Nat’s head from behind, tearing at their hair that was too short to be feminine but too long to be professionally masculine. Nat only had one other way to break Claire’s guard, they pushed forward and sunk their teeth into her exposed forearm. Claire groaned and dropped the knife. Claire tried to knock Nat backward, but Nat used that backward momentum to flip over Claire’s arm, land on her feet, and drive Claire’s head into the railing. Claire dropped onto all fours, grunting in pain. The yellow that had clouded her eyes was flickering as she looked up at Nat, “Nat?” She asked, blinking. It looked like Claire hadn’t slept in days. Nat had an idea. They punched Claire in the face. Claire fell backward, unconscious. 

 

* * *

 

 

In the detention level, Thordis strode into the room of Loki’s cell with purpose. The door of Loki’s cell was sliding open. Thordis, on instinct, hurled Mjolnir at Loki’s chest. It passed right through the chest and cracked the glass on the opposite side. Per the way that the cell was designed, this damage set off a series of events. The space below the cell opened, and the cell dropped straight down. Loki flickered and smiled, and Thordis summoned Mjolnir.

 

“I see you’ve learned some things, sister,” The illusion said.

 

“There are only so many times you can reuse the same childhood trick,” Thordis replied. “Where are you?”

 

“Here,” Loki said, stepping into view. He had his scepter in one hand and Jane Foster in the other. “So, this is the mortal woman who made you stay.”

 

“My feelings for Jane did not influence my decision to abandon Asgard, Loki,” Thordis said. “I understand your anger, but please, do not hurt more than you have hurt already. Loki, I do not know what has happened to you in my absence, but I do not want to cause you any more suffering.”

 

“I wonder,” Loki continued. “Are you actually devoted to this mortal woman, or is she nothing more than a pet?” Loki laughed. “I’ll tell you what, if you don’t catch her, I’ll tell you where the  Tesseract is.”

 

“Catch her-?” Thordis questioned. Loki shoved Jane into the open chasm in the detention room where the cell had fallen. Jane screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is technically a cliffhanger, so my apologies for that.
> 
> In redundancy, I adore whenever you interact with what I write, provide feedback, and give me the continuous inspiration to write this series. So, if you could be so kind as to comment, provide kudos, etcetera, I would appreciate it immensely.
> 
> Thank you again, and I will see you all in the next chapter.


	9. Losers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a huge fan of cliffhangers myself, so I thought I would resolve this one with haste.
> 
> Thank you to all of my readers for your continued support and feedback!

 

Thordis looked at Loki for a moment in complete shock, horror, and rage, before diving into the open chasm between them, falling after Jane. Loki sighed in disappointment as she did so. It did seem like Thordis loved this mortal woman more than anything. Especially Loki.

 

“Hands up, please,” A calm voice said. Loki glanced to see a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent holding a particularly large gun which glowed blue. “You like Bambino?” the agent motioned to the gun. “We started working on several prototypes after encountering your sister. Even I don’t know what it does. Do you wanna find out? Put down the scepter, and back against the wall.”

 

Loki slowly lowered the scepter. As he did so, he summoned a knife into his opposite hand. He swung his arm. The blade arced through the air and embedded itself squarely in the agent’s  chest. The man gasped and gargled, pulling the trigger of his massive weapon. The blast was huge, but the scepter diffused it. Instead of vaporizing him, it hit Loki and sent him tumbling through the detention center, breaking through the metal walls.

 

“So that’s what it does,” The man said, weakly, before he slumped against the wall.

 

Loki pulled himself to his feet in the mess of debris, trying to figure out a way to kill the man faster so he could retrieve his scepter, when Thordis soared into the detention room from below, Doctor Foster under her arm. When Thordis saw the man lying there, she exclaimed “Coulson, No!” and hurried over to him with Jane. Loki saw his opportunity to escape, and he took it.

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie was trying not to die with the terrible screeching sounds of Toni pushing the turbine of engine three. Also, the men who continued to pop up and try to shoot her weren’t helping maintain her survival. Toni was groaning and straining over the comms, but the engine was actually spinning again, and the helicarrier was slowly rising. “Cap, the lever!” She called, just as two more men decided they wanted to come in and try to kill Stephanie. Stephanie sprayed the entranceway with one hand while pulling the lever with the other. The lever did not pull quickly, and she had to drop the gun and put her back into it to yank it down, exposing herself to enemy fire. She missed her shield.

Thankfully, with the angle of their cover and where she was on the catwalk, the only bullet that hit her grazed across her shoulder blades. She hissed in pain, dropped to the floor once the lever was down, picked up the gun, and flicked it in the direction of the men with her wrists. She trained her sights on their clear goggles, and she shot. The spray of bullets arced from one head to the other, and both men dropped. Stephanie sighed. The leather jacket and shirt she was wearing were now ruined, a large gash in the back. She groaned and climbed to her feet. A third man popped in the doorway. The Iron Maiden barrelled through the gaping hole in the side of the engineering section and knocked the man to the ground.

 

“What happened here?” Toni asked looked around, seeing the dozen or so men who had tried to stop Stephanie in the process of their engine repairs.

 

“I handled it,” Stephanie said, standing up. Every movement of her arms set her back aflame.

 

“Agent Coulson is down,” Fury said over the comm line. He paused for a moment, “They called it.”

 

* * *

 

Stephanie, Toni, Thordis, Jane, and Darcy sat at the conference table in the ruined bridge. Half the equipment wasn’t working. There was shattered glass and warped metal, sprays of blood against the walls and smears where bodies had been dragged out. Fury walked over and tossed a pile of trading cards onto the table. Stephanie recognized her old uniform. She also recognized the red and brown splotches of dried blood. She sighed.

 

“These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them,” Fury said. Stephanie looked away from the cards and down at her hands. “We’re dead in the air up here,” Fury  continued. “We’ve lost all incoming communications, our tracking of the cube, Banner, Loki, and I lost my one good eye. I had that coming.” He sighed. “Yes, we were going to build an  arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put half my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes.”

 

Toni was still in her suit, because it was the best way for her to be mobile with a missing leg. She had enough of this, of Fury guilt-tripping them with the death of Coulson. As if it was their fault because they were angry at the Tesseract weapons. She walked away.

 

“Well, it’s an old-fashioned notion,” Fury said. “I don’t know how we’re going to stop Loki now, we don’t know where the Tesseract is.”

 

“New York,” Darcy said. All eyes were on her. “The search finished right before we- it’s in New York. Midtown Manhattan.”

 

Stephanie turned to Fury, “Evacuate Manhattan, whatever resources you have, call in an evac.”

 

“Do you know the kind of chaos that would cause?”

 

“How much more blood do you want on your hands? Or are the innocent people of New York acceptable losses?” Stephanie asked. “Call in a terror threat, a gas leak, a sinkhole, I don’t care. Evacuate Manhattan. You said you lost incoming communications, you said nothing about outgoing.”

 

* * *

 

Miles away, Bertie Banner woke up in a crater which used to be some abandoned building. She was naked, that wasn’t great. She was lying on her stomach, dust and grime everywhere. She didn’t have socks on, and the feeling of her toes being exposed made her instantly more uncomfortable than any other part of her nudity.

 

“You fell out of the sky!” A man called. On instinct, she curled up into a ball to cover herself, and she looked around. There was a security guard at the edge of the crater, with a hand clamped over his eyes.

 

“Did I hurt anybody?” Bertie asked. The last thing she remembered was asking Thordis to get her off the ship. Hopefully, Thordis succeeded.

 

“There's nobody around here to get hurt. You did scare the hell out of some pigeons though.” The man said.

 

“Lucky,” Bertie sighed.

 

“Or just good aim, you were awake when you fell,” he explained.

 

“You saw?” Bertie asked.

 

“The whole thing, right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck-ass nude. Here,” he tossed her a pile of fabric. It was a shirt and pants, both men’s clothes, both too large for her. But they would do. “I didn’t think those would fit you until you shrunk down to a regular size gal. Tell me when you’re decent, wouldja?”

 

“Thank you,” Bertie said, quickly pulling the clothes on. “It’s alright,” She said. The guard pulled his hand away from his eyes and helped her out of the crater.

 

“Are you an alien?” He asked.

 

“What?”

 

“From outer space, an alien?”

 

“No,” Bertie said. The aliens were more human than she was.

 

“Well, then, hon, you’ve got a condition,” The guard said. Bertie was inclined to agree. “You goin’ somewhere?” He asked.

 

Bertie remembered the aftermath of the explosion. How hard it had been to hold back the tantrum, the more she tried to fight it, the more she lost control. Agent Romanoff was struggling to get a fallen beam of their leg and Darcy Lewis - Darcy Lewis had been rambling nonsense:  _ OhmygodohmygodohmygodshizshizshizfrickdangeritIcan’tbelievethisishappeningohmygodwhyisthishappeningtomeohmygodohmygodimgonnadiewe’reallgonnadiedeathisinevitableandwhyisNewYorkCityalwayswheretheglobaldisastershappenwhattheforkdamnitshittakeidon’twanttodie. _

 

“New York City,” Bertie said.

 

“Well, you’re lucky, this is Jersey,” The man said. “You need a car or something? I have an old bike.”

 

“Please, sir,” Bertie said.

 

“No problem. When green women fall out of the sky, you help them,” the man declared, as if green women falling out of the sky was not an uncommon experience.

 

* * *

 

Claire was swimming in and out of consciousness. Everything was too bright and too loud as she shook off the last holds of Loki’s mind control. The white noise in her hearing aids was driving her insane.

 

“Claire, you’re going to be alright,” Nat said, sitting down Claire was restrained, so Nat held a cup of water with a straw to her mouth so she could drink.

 

“Is that what you know?” Claire asked. “I gotta - I gotta go in though - I gotta flush him out.”

 

“We don’t have that long, it’s gonna take time,” Nat warned.

 

“Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?”

 

“You know that I do,” Nat said.

 

“Why am I back? How did you get him out?” Claire asked.

 

“Cognitive recalibration,” Nat answered. “I hit you really hard in the head.”

 

So maybe that explained the massive headache. “Thanks.”

 

Nat leaned over Claire and started unfastening the straps holding her to the bed.

 

“Nattie, how many agents?” Claire asked.

 

“Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Claire. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.”

 

“Loki, he got away?”

 

“We know he’s going to open the portal in New York. We’re evacuating now as best we can, trying to come up with a plan. We gotta stop him.”

 

“Yeah, who’s ‘we?’” Claire asked.

 

“I don’t know, whoever’s left.”

 

“Well, if I put an arrow in Loki’s eye socket, I’d sleep better, I suppose.”

 

“Now you sound like you,” Nat said, smiling.

 

“But you don’t,” Claire said. “You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?”

 

“Nothing,” Nat said. Claire looked at them. “I just - I’ve been compromised. I have red in my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out.”

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie was in the medical bay, hugging her knees to her chest. They had taken her jacket and her shirt off, and now the medics were slowly stitching up the eight-inch gash on her back. She had already texted Sam and Becca, telling them that it might be wise to head further east and spend the day somewhere on Long Island. James had never seen the beach before, maybe he would like it.

 

“Doing alright, Cap?” Toni asked. Stephanie looked up.

 

“I’ve gotten worse,” Stephanie said. She thought about Agent Coulson, Toni knew him. “Was he married?”

 

“No, there was a, uh, cellist, I think,” Toni said.

 

“I’m sorry,” Stephanie said. “He seemed like a good man.”

 

“He was an idiot,” Toni said. She stood across from Stephanie, looking down.

 

“Why? For believing?”

 

“For taking on Loki alone,” Toni said.

 

“He was doing his job,” Stephanie replied.

 

“He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-”

 

“Losing people is hard,” Stephanie agreed. Her voice was thick with somber sympathy. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing down at the rings dangling from a chain around her neck and thinking about Bucky. She thought Dugan and Angela, Morita, Leah, Falsworth, Georgie, Gabe, Ruthie,  Mercier, Christine, Howard, Peggy, Erskine, even Phillips. “I’m not saying I agree with Fury. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've gotta put that aside and get this done. Do you know where in Midtown Loki might be going for a power source?”

 

Toni barely had to think, “My tower, the drama queen. The arc reactor is capable of more output than the grid ten times over.”

 

“You’re all good, ma’am,” The medic said, pulling away with the cart of suture supplies. Stephanie unfolded in the chair, stood up, and threw a S.H.I.E.L.D. sweatshirt on.

 

“I need to swing by the armory, find a tactical uniform,” Stephanie said. “Can you try to stop, or at least stall Loki in the meantime before I bring reinforcements? The more evac time we have, the more people we can save.”

 

“I’ll do my best,” Toni promised. “I need to swing by Stark Tower to update my tech anyway.” She glanced down at her armored feet. She was missing a prosthetic, and she didn't like fighting legless. “While you’re at it, Captain, you should probably look for a better bra.”

 

“Better bra?” Stephanie asked. “That’s your focus right now, my undergarments?”

 

“I’m sorry, but from one girl to another, it’s really lumpy.”

 

“Yeah, well, it has a lot of padding,” Stephanie said.

 

“You don’t need that much padding. I mean, you’re well-endowed. Really well-endowed.”

 

Stephanie sighed. “Toni, it’s a nursing bra,” she whispered.

 

“Why are you wearing a nursing bra?” Toni asked quietly.

 

“I’ll give you three guesses,” Stephanie said. She started to head out of the med bay. Toni followed.

 

“Wait, hold on, is that why you’re retired?” Toni asked.

 

“Why am I retired?” Stephanie pretended to be confused.

 

“You - when did you?” Toni asked. “After the ice?”

 

“Yeah,” Stephanie said. “I found out from S.H.I.E.L.D. when they pulled me out.”

 

“Is it Sergeant Barnes’s?”

 

“Yes, my son is my husband’s,” Stephanie said. “Why do you wonder?” She headed down to the armory, Toni followed her.

 

“Well, you know, there were a lot of rumors during the war, you probably haven’t heard. People thought you might’ve had fun in the military doing other things with the Howling Commandos. Some people suspect you and my father were together, I mean, he was clearly in love with you. I know most of the stories are between you and your husband, but Captain America sort of became an icon of the sexual revolution. Something about turning the face of proper conservative gender roles and American patriotism into smut."

"History has to be revised heavily if it makes me a proper patriotic homemaker," Stephanie said.

"But weren't you a homemaker?"

 

"I was unemployed," Stephanie said. "I guess I did chores. It wasn't like I decided I wanted to do it. Nobody would hire a married woman and I had to lie to finally get a job."

 

"So, you didn't want to be a homemaker?"

 

"It was so boring," Stephanie said.

"Well, anyway, there are about three dozen smutty books with you as the darling protagonist-”

 

“I know,” Stephanie said. “I own them all.”

 

“You - what?”

 

“I wanted to see what people think of me now. I don’t understand why everyone thinks there was a love triangle between Howard, Buck, and I.”

 

“My father was obsessed with you,” Toni said. “You were like the older sister I could never live up to. It was ‘Stephanie this’ and ‘Captain America that’ since I was a kid. He was in love with  you, everyone knew that.”

 

“He was my best friend,” Stephanie said. "Nothing more."

 

“He was your BFF? Not Peggy Carter?” Toni asked.

 

“No, Peggy was the one in the love triangle,” Stephanie said.

 

“Wait-”

 

“-And it wasn’t really like a triangle in the traditional sense because it was mutual on all sides-”

 

“-Wait-”

 

“-Before you ask, no, we never actually got together, the three of us. We wanted to, but we were all afraid, and we ran out of time.”

 

“-I need-”

 

“You need to go delay Loki,” Stephanie said. “We can talk about my raunchy war stories later. We’ll even start a book club if you want.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Toni said, backing away. “We will - I’m holding you to that!” She turned a corner and went to leave the ship. Stephanie sighed. She found the armory. The first thing she did was acquire one of the black and blue S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical suits which were made out of a carbon fiber similar to that of her old Captain America uniform. She recognized the stiff fabric the moment she felt it. She took a gear harness and filled every pouch with loads of ammunition for the two pistols she packed, each one in its own holster on her thigh. There was a knife at her hip. It felt too good to have the familiar gear strapped to her body. She tied it up and tucked her hair into a black balaclava which she pulled down off her face, and added a tactical helmet. The only thing she was missing was her shield, and she had no idea what S.H.I.E.L.D. had done with that.  She didn't have time to look. She needed to find Romanoff and Thordis, make sure that they had as many people as possible.

 

“Captain,” Thordis greeted Stephanie. “I see you have changed into a uniform.”

 

“I’m going to try to stop Loki. Toni’s already on her way. Are you in?”

 

“Yes,” Thordis said. “I shall protect Midgard from my brother.”

 

“Thank you,” Stephanie said. 

 

Thordis turned to Jane and Darcy, probably to say goodbye and promise to return. Stephanie was all too familiar with those kinds of goodbyes. The body language and low tones were unmistakable. She pulled herself away and went to find Agent Romanoff, who was helping Agent Barton recover from Loki’s mind control. When Stephanie walked into Agent Barton’s room, Agent Romanoff was sitting on the bed. There was the sound of running water from the closed bathroom door.

 

“Time to go,” Stephanie said.

 

“Go where?” Nat asked.

 

“New York. Toni, Thordis and I are going to stop Loki. You?”

 

“I’m in, of course.”

 

“Can you fly one of those jets?”

 

“We can,” Claire said, stepping out of the bathroom. She was wearing a tank top and cargo pants. Stephanie glanced at Nat. Nat nodded. 

 

“You got a suit?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Then suit up.”

 

“Meet us at the hangar,” Nat said to Claire. Claire gave a haphazard salute. Nat walked out of the room with Stephanie. “I got a present for you, Cap.” Nat led Stephanie down two levels to some sort of small R&D lab, abandoned by the S.H.I.E.L.D. technicians. “They were trying to see what Vibranium could do, never had a sample that large before. Coulson, however, was insistent that they couldn’t defile the shape or the paint job.” Their voice was tinged with what seemed to Stephanie like genuine sadness. Nat opened a box and pulled out the familiar disk. “I’m sure you’ll like that better than all those guns.”

 

“I always used guns,” Stephanie said. “They literally called me ‘pistol-packin’ Barnes. Does nobody think I used guns?”

 

“Not on any of the war propaganda.”

 

“Yeah, well, propaganda wasn’t supposed to be the most accurate, was it?” Stephanie accepted the shield. It felt more familiar than anything in the twenty-first century. “Thank you.”

 

“No problem,” Nat said with what looked like a rare and honest smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> Are the Avengers, dare I say it, assembling? I hope you're all looking forward to the battle of New York! Your feedback is always appreciated.
> 
> Until the next one!


	10. Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone for your continual feedback, I appreciate it!

Toni flew to the roof of Stark Tower, where the Tesseract was being monitored by Selvig. It was already in a CMS device, a field of energy bubbling around it. The arc reactor was offline, but even then, the Tesseract already had enough power to be self-sustaining. Selvig really had solved the quantum tunneling effect.

 

“Shut it down, Dr. Selvig,” Toni said.

 

“It’s too late!” Selvig explained, his yellow, clouded eyes proving he was still under the influence of Loki. “It can't stop now. He wants to show us something! A new universe!”

 

“Okay,” Toni said, deciding that the crazy train had officially left the station. She pointed both repulsors at the Tesseract and blasted it. The beams of energy glanced off the field surrounding the Tesseract. The blast sent Selvig flying backward, unconscious. They also sent Toni careening back through the air, plates of her armor cracked or falling off her suit.

 

“The barrier is pure energy, It’s unbreachable,” JARVIS informed. “The Mark VII is not ready to be deployed.”

 

“Skip the spinning rims, we’re on the clock here,” Toni said. “At least are prosthetics-three ready?”

 

“Yes,” JARVIS said. “Adjusted time for Mark VII is now ten minutes.”

 

“I can stall a god for ten minutes, I’m a badass,” Toni told herself.

 

“Indeed, ma’am,” JARVIS agreed.

 

Toni lowered herself to the landing pad, and she noticed Loki staring up at her with a satisfied expression. The gantry system peeled away her armor and unfolded a wheelchair for her to sit in, she typed some navigation information into the keypad on the armrest, and it glided from her landing pad inside to the living area of her penthouse, where her Mark III prosthetics were sitting. She started disassembling the brace to take off her remaining Mark II leg when Loki walked in.

 

“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity,” Loki said.

 

“Actually, I’m here to replace my feet,” Toni said, chucking the second generation prosthetic behind her and picking up a new one. Her fingers dug into the mechanics of her new braces, and she pushed her scarred stumps. The braces clicked and whirred to adjust to her leg, a thousand small rings changing radius, so they molded to her perfectly. They started to calibrate to her neural system, she tried not to wince from all the neural feedback, and she wheeled behind the bar, “Want a drink?” She asked, “I have seventy different types of sparkling water and juice.”

 

“Stalling won’t change anything,” Loki said.

 

“There’s coconut, raspberry, dragonfruit - you sure you don’t want a drink?” Toni asked. “I think I’ll go for watermelon.”

 

“The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that, what do I have to fear?” Loki asked.

 

Toni cracked open the can and took a long sip, smacking her lips loudly and sighing, “Are you sure you don’t want one?” She asked. “You look like a honeydew kinda guy.”

 

“Are you intentionally annoying me?” Loki asked.

 

“I annoy everyone,” Toni said. “That’s, like, a thing. I’m an annoying diva, and you’re a cantankerous megalomaniac in dire need of shampoo.” She slipped her hands into bracelets behind the bar and wheeled over to Loki, stepping out of the chair, her prosthetics completely adjusted. “Now get outta my house.”

 

“Or what? You’ll make me? Should have left your armor on for that,” Loki said with a smile.

 

“You know, you asked me what you have to fear. And there are two things you have to be afraid of. The first thing is your own cripplingly low self-esteem which is probably why you’re overcompensating with the big stick and the whole world domination thing,” Toni waved her hands in the air. “Like, seriously, what is it with you guys, you can’t express emotions correctly, so you opt to murder? Get therapy.”

 

“And the second thing?” Loki asked.

 

“Oh yeah, The Avengers. It’s what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team, ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ type thing.”

 

“Yes,” Loki smiled. “I’ve met them.”

 

Toni smiled. “It took us a while to vibe, I admit. But let’s do a head count here: Your sister, a gorgeous goddess and literal powerhouse; a super-soldier with the greatest ass I have ever seen; a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend; a woman with breathtaking anger-management issues; a genderless assassin with literally killer thighs; and a woman who really rocks that sixty-thousand year old weapon. And you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

 

“That was the plan,” Loki smiled.

 

“So you were _trying_ to fail?” Toni asked. “Because when they come for you, and they will come, they’re not gonna pull any punches.”

 

“I have an army,” Loki said.

 

“We have a Hulk,” Toni said.

 

“I thought you disposed of the beast.”

 

“You’re missing the point: there’s no throne,” Toni said. “There’s no version of this where you come out of this on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it.”

 

Loki slowly paced toward Toni, lifting his scepter, “How will your friends have time for me when they’re so busy fighting you?” he tapped the scepter to her chest. She would have been lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. It pinged harmlessly off of her arc reactor. He tried again, brow furrowing. “This usually works.”

 

“Well, you know, performance issues,” Toni shrugged. “Nine times outta ten-”

 

Loki grabbed her by the throat and flung her across the room. She hit the floor and rolled. “JARVIS, anytime now.”

 

“Two minutes, ma’am.”

 

She stood up, but Loki met her with another hand over the throat.

 

“I swear, Viagra is really easy to get,” she said. He didn’t even humor her.

 

“You will all fall before me,” He whispered in her ear before throwing her out the window. She was disoriented for a moment as she fell but quickly recovered. Toni pushed down on her bracelets. Beneath her, her prosthetic legs transformed. The feet split, and two small repulsors descended. Her bracelets unfolded across her palms, stabilizing repulsors activating. They were too weak for offensive maneuvers, but they kept her flying. She zipped upward, hovering in the window where Loki had thrown her.

 

“And there’s another guy you pissed off!” Toni said. “His name was Phil!”

 

Loki raised his scepter and blasted her, but she leaned to the side and dodged his blast. She soared through the gap in the window, tilted to one side, turned in the air, folded her hips over, and kicked Loki across the face. He swung his scepter at her, but she caught it, flipping over him with a blast of energy and twisting it behind his back. She launched a knee into his back. He cried out and fell forward, onto his face. She was left holding the scepter.

 

“Suit is ready, ma’am,” JARVIS said.

 

“Finally!” She declared. “I’m keeping this!” She told Loki, twirling the scepter like a baton and rocketing out of the hole in her window. The suit was launched out of the landing bay. She swooped down, tossed the scepter in the air, spun into the open suit, and it closed around her in time for her to catch the scepter. Above her, she realized that the sky had opened up. The energy beam had gotten so dense that there was a deep fissure in the sky, and something was coming out of it.

 

“Right,” She said. “Army.”

 

Pouring out of the sky was a legion of aliens. They were strange, grey, insect-like creatures, with helmets and futuristic, flying chariots. There were easily a hundred, maybe even more. Toni was starting to feel nervous.

 

“Need some backup, Stark?” A voice crackled over her comms.

 

In a Quinjet soaring over the city, piloted by Romanoff and Claire, Stephanie had just put a communication unit into her ear. Thordis was doing the same.

 

“I need somebody to hold this for me,” Toni said.

 

Nat pressed a button and opened the bay of the Quinjet. Toni swooped down and tossed the scepter into the bay, “Now Loki’s neutered. Do you have to land? I could do with some air support.”

 

“I can make my exit here,” Thordis said. She launched out of the back of the Quinjet with Mjolnir propelling her through the air. She met Toni, and they flew into the descending wall of Chitauri. Toni spun and twirled through the air, dodging blasts of energy from the Chitauri, blasting them in turn. She shot missiles and beams of repulsor energy, destroying the chariots in an explosion of greenish-grey alien sludge. If a chariot got too close, she would either swerve to avoid it or blast the alien controlling it directly in the face. Once or twice, a Chitauri jumped and tried to grab onto her. She would tumble with it through the air, usually getting the upper hand with a blast.

 

Beside her, Thordis was pummeling chariots as she met them, great arcs of electricity jolting off of her hammer and onto the Chitauri, exploding their chariots or burning them to black. She could spin through the air, releasing a volley of electricity all around her. She also would crush consoles of Chariots with her hammer so the Chitauri would crash into the ground. She pushed off of the falling chariot when she did that, propelling herself into the next one.

 

However, even with the two of them, the Chitauri were still descending. The miniguns mounted to the top of the Quinjet were aiming at the coming onslaught, but the Chitauri were continuing to make it past the jet, passing beneath it. Stephanie walked over to the open bay.

 

“You need us to land?” Claire asked.

 

“No, you heard Stark, we need air support,” Stephanie said.

 

“So what are you doing?” Claire asked.

 

“Air support!” Stephanie called, jumping out of the plane. She fell directly onto a chariot of Chitauri that was zipping below. She bashed her shield into the console and shooting each alien in the face. It seemed that their heads were a good target because they were wearing helmets. The chariot started to fall so Stephanie jumped to the next one, swinging over the console and kicking the three chitauri off of it in one motion. She leaped and twisted through the air again, catching the edge of another chariot. She shot the Chitauri who tried to push her off, and with a single-armed pull-up, mounted the top of the chariot, She pulled the controlling Chitauri to the side. The chariot swerved in the air. She then knocked it off, but let the chariot hover in the air. She pulled out her second pistol and started shooting at the coming aliens. A shot to the head was sufficient, and Stephanie had a good eye.

 

One sent a blast at the chariot she was balancing on. She pushed off of the chariot and caught onto one speeding beneath it as it exploded behind her. She shot the three chitauri, drove the chariot, so it was accelerating in the direction of the wave, and jumped off it. It crashed into another chariot, and they both exploded, debris knocking into other coming chariots.  Several now-unmanned chariots rained down as Stephanie fell. She caught onto one and rode it until it was nearly at ground level. She jumped off before it could hit the ground and explode, rolling forward on her shield.

 

“Now I’m ground support,” She announced in the comms, shooting a still-twitching Chitauri beside her.

 

The Quinjet rocked with an explosion from a Chitauri which had split off of the primary wave and took the side, “We’ll be joining you soon,” Nat said. “Left propellor is down!”

 

“Uh, guys,” Toni said. “We’ve got more incoming.”

 

A loud bellowing sound broke through the air. Descending from the portal, a large Chitauri ship. And then they realized that it was not a ship, it was a living creature, the size of a cruise liner, arching through the air like a flying whale. The Chitauri Leviathan was carrying hundreds of Chitauri on its back with ease.

 

“Son of a bitch,” Stephanie said from the ground. “Stark - are you seeing this?”

 

“I’m seeing,” Toni said. “Still working on believing, where’s Banner? Has she shown up yet?”

 

“Banner?” Stephanie asked. Banner was missing.

 

“Just keep me posted,” Toni said. “JARVIS, find me a soft spot.” She spiraled around the Leviathan, dodging Chitauri blasts to scan the creature in full. Nat and Claire landed the falling Quinjet in the middle of the street. The pushed their way out and headed over to where Stephanie was dealing with the few Chitauri stragglers on the ground level. Nat had Loki’s spear strapped to their back.

 

“How many people are evacuated?” Stephanie asked.

 

“It would take eight days to evacuate the island of Manhattan in full,” Nat said. “So far, the National Guard has cleared a ten-block radius of Stark Tower at least eighty percent, and is moving people through the subway systems.”

 

“Then it’s our job to hold that radius,” Stephanie said.

 

“Take cover!” Claire cried. She pulled Nat behind a car. Stephanie crouched over them, shield raised. A Chitauri chariot being driven by Loki shot down the street, destroying the Quinjet, and disintegrating anything that was in the road. Sprays of asphalt shot into the sky and rained dark dust down on them.

 

“You - make a showdown here,” Stephanie said. “I’ll make sure to tell the Army our plan. I want to try to compact as much violence as I can to the mostly evacuated zone, while we work on getting everyone else out.”

 

“And then?” Nat asked.

 

“Then we’ll do something else,” Stephanie said. “Do you think you can hold them off?”

 

“Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure,” Claire said, notching an arrow.

 

“We got this. Go!” Nat ordered Stephanie. She nodded and headed toward where a series of tanks were rolling in. Claire could get one or two Chitauri with every arrow. Nat was emptying their clips on the trickle of ground soldiers. As they pushed from the destruction of the Quinjet toward the base of Stark Tower, they helped clear the few humans who had stayed in the evacuation zone, freeing them from trapped cars or providing cover so they could dash to the nearest subway and get into the evacuation routes beneath the city.

 

“It’s like Budapest all over again!” Nat said after the two took down a wave of Chitauri. Nat remembered the constant volley of armed men they had held the line against for hours.

 

Claire glanced at Nat with exhaustion. There was a difference between a compound of greedy humans and goddamn  _aliens_ coming from the _sky._ “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie hurried over to the advancing line of National Guard and the Army which had been called in by S.H.I.E.L.D. There were also local police, all of which had been working to establish the evacuation perimeter. Now, they realized their evacuation perimeter was the edges of a warzone. “I need men in these buildings,” She said, easily identifying an officer by his uniform. “There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th. People need to take their things and go. We need to keep them contained, both in the ground and in the air. Don’t worry about pushing in, I need men to hold the line.”

 

“Who the hell are you, and why are you giving _me_ orders?” The lieutenant asked.

 

As if on cue, a beam of energy shot from a chariot at them. Stephanie deflected it with her shield and hurled the shield into the chariot. It skidded to the ground and crashed. The three chitauri advanced on her. She dodged one blast and shot the offending alien in the face. A second ran at her with some sort of spear, she caught the pike with one hand and twisted it out of the alien’s grasp, running him through. She ducked a blast that came from behind, having heard the whirring of the weapon charge. Without looking behind her, she stood up and pointed a gun behind her shoulder, pulling the trigger. The heard the alien crumple. The army looked at her.

 

“Well? Are you gonna gape at me or are you gonna get to work? Let’s go, soldiers!” She barked. She headed over to the chariot and retrieved her unscathed shield.

 

“You heard her!” The lieutenant shouted. “Get men in those buildings. I need a perimeter as far back as thirty-ninth, and whatever you do, hold the goddamn line!” He picked up a radio and started barking information into it. Satisfied, Stephanie headed back into the thick of the battle.

 

* * *

 

 

Toni’s plan was not particularly a good one. The only point that JARVIS could identify on the Leviathan as a possible source of weakness was the face. As the Leviathan sailed through buildings, Chitauri leaping off it’s back into the windows, Toni spiraled through the air until she was face-to-face with the monster. She launched a volley of missiles at its eyes and mouth. The creature roared, annoyed, but not stopped in the slightest.

 

“We got his attention,” Toni said, flipping through the air and blasting the opposite direction “What the hell is step two?” She asked herself, as the creature chased her. She decided it was time for fancy flying as she swerved between the gaps in buildings, cutting corners as the Leviathan slowly trailed her through the sky. She needed an actual plan.

 

* * *

 

 

Claire tripped a chitauri soldier and used her knife to dispatch it through the face. She ducked a coming blast, sheathed her blade, pulled out her bow, and launched an arrow straight through the head of her assailant. Beside her, Nat groaned as the gun clicked. Not having time or ammunition to refill their clip, Nat pulled Loki’s spear off their back and slid their hand across the shaft. A beam of energy blasted out of the spear and hit the attacking alien, disintegrating his abdomen with a squelch and a burst of greyish goo. Nat twirled the scepter, slicing the head off of a coming assailant.

 

“Like that thing?” Claire asked, eyeing the object that controlled her darkly.

 

“It works,” Nat said. “And I know how to _not_ use it.”

 

"Just don't lose it," Claire ordered.

 

A disk spun through the air, knocking a Chitauri chariot out of the sky. Stephanie launched off a car’s roof, mounted the Chariot, and dispatched the aliens on board with shots to the face and her effective use of elbows as she rode the falling chariot to the ground. She pulled out her shield and somersaulted off the chariot, rolling onto her shield as it crashed behind her in an explosion.

 

“You always gotta make dramatic exits and entrances?” Nat asked.

 

“Of course, I’m all about the theatrics, USO showgirl and all,” Stephanie said dryly as she shot a coming alien. There were probably thirty which were advancing on the trio from all sides. They were coming out of the city like termites. “They’re closing in.”

 

“Need assistance?” Thordis roared from above, summoning a storm of lightning. A sharp beam struck each advancing Chitauri, melting and warping their helmets and charring their bodies black. Thordis landed, her red cape billowing behind her.

 

“More of that, please,” Stephanie said. “What’s the story upstairs?”

 

“The powers surrounding the cube are impenetrable,” Thordis said gravely.

 

“Princess is right,” Toni said over comms. “We gotta deal with these guys.”

 

“How do we do this?” Nat asked.

 

“As a team,” Stephanie said.

 

“I have unfinished business with Loki,” Thordis said.

 

“Yeah? Get in line,” Claire snapped.

 

“Save it,” Stephanie said. “Loki’s gonna try to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, she's gonna need us-” Stephanie stopped as she saw someone approaching on a motorbike. It was Doctor Banner. Bertie was wearing clothes that were far too big for her frame, she looked like a child playing a filthy game of dress-up as she dismounted from the bike and approached.

 

“So this all seems horrible,” She said.

 

“I wish I could say I’ve seen worse,” Stephanie agreed. “Stark, we’ve got her.”

 

“Banner?” Toni asked over comms.

 

“Just like you said,” Stephanie smiled.

 

“Then tell her to suit up, I’m bringing the party to you,” Toni said.

 

They watched as Toni swerved around a building. There was a moment, and then the massive Leviathan behind her came into view. There were still many Chitauri clinging to its back. Toni was rushing down the street they were standing on, heading directly toward the group.

 

“I - I don’t see how that’s a party,” Nat admitted.

 

Bertie started walking toward the Leviathan, swinging her shoulders with confidence.

 

“Dr. Banner now might be a really good time for you to get angry,” Stephanie said.

 

Bertie could take a long time to explain exactly what set off the Hulk. That it wasn’t anger as much as it was the fact that the Hulk was when Bertie succumbed to her constant discomfort, an allowed her body to take over for one of her tantrums. But, it was a battle. And Bertie needed a good line, something succinct and witty, “That’s my secret, Cap, I’m always angry.” She turned to the monster. She let the smoke, the bright lights, and the loud noises overwhelm her. She let go. Her body stretched, bubbled, and morphed until the Hulk was staring up at the coming monster, and the Hulk did not like the big, loud monster that was covered in small, angry bugs. As the Leviathan dipped down to her level, the Hulk pushed one massive fist into its nose. The creature froze and flipped over her, slowly twisting through the air. Toni released another volley of missiles, these caught the exposed chinks in the Leviathan’s armor. It exploded into a thousand pieces, large, flaming hunks of meat exploding and dripping down onto the street. Stephanie lifted her shield, Nat and Claire ducking under it to avoid the falling sludge. Thordis lifted and spun Mjolnir to deflect the fallen pieces of burning Leviathan carcass.

 

“Send the rest,” Loki ordered from where he watched them in a chariot above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the first half of the battle of New York! I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> As always, your feedback makes me happy, and I love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
> 
> Until the next one! :)


	11. Assemble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are in for a treat! I'm going to post these last three chapters all in succession, today.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! :)

 

From the gash in the sky, two more Chitauri Leviathans and another wave of perhaps a thousand Chitauri soldiers on chariots descended. The group felt the content of their victory secede to worry.

 

“Call it, Cap,” Toni said.

 

“Alright, listen up,” Stephanie said, tugging the balaclava away from her mouth so they could all see and hear her clearly. “We need to close that portal. The Tesseract weapon Coulson used  should have disintegrated Loki, why didn’t it?”

 

“He had the scepter,” Claire said, glancing at Nat, who had the very scepter in hand.

 

“Exactly. That’s our best bet and beating that energy field. But we can’t let Loki know that we know it might work.”

 

“You need a spy,” Nat said. “I can get up there. Might take a while.”

 

“Run. In the meantime, the rest of us are focused on containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you’re on air support for the perimeter. Make sure that none of them get out of the evac zone - anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back, or you turn it to ash. Thordis, you’ve got to try to bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You’ve got the lightning, light the bastards up. I’ll stay down on the ground, keep it clear down here, protect the remaining civilians. And Hulk?” Stephanie turned to the huge, green woman. “Smash.” The Hulk grinned.

 

The Avengers sprung into action. Nat started sprinting along the building line, ducking through alleys on their way to Stark Tower, practically unseen in the chaos. Toni picked up Claire and dropped her on the rooftop Stephanie indicated, then Toni blasted into the air, speeding along the perimeter and blasting chariots out of the way as she did so. Thordis flew into the air, landing on the Chrysler Building and summoning a colossal beam of lightning from the sky, directing it through her body and through Mjolnir. The electricity struck the surface of the portal, hitting most everything which was breaking through from it. Bodies rained down in the streets. Even an emerging Leviathan was thoroughly roasted by her assault, chunks of burning flesh falling from the portal and onto the Tower below. The Hulk leaped into the air, catching the side of a building and tearing through the Chitauri that were mounted to it, ripping them apart and smashing them into the glass like flies. She hurled their broken bodies at chariots speeding through the air before launching into the stream of flying chitauri herself, destroying them as they crashed into her body.

 

“Stark,” Claire warned as Toni shot past. “You’ve got a lot of strings sticking to your tail.”

 

“Just try and keep them off the streets,” Toni said, twisting out of the way of a blast.

 

“Well, they can’t bank worth a damn,” Claire said, watching them arc as they turned. “Find a tight corner.”

 

“I will roger that,” Toni said. She took a tight corner right in front of Claire. The Chitauri all slowed and congested to catch up with her, just in time for Claire to strike them with an explosive arrow. The chariots erupted in flames. “Nice call,” Toni said. “What else you got?”

 

“Well, Thordis is taking down a squadron on sixth,” Claire watched, glancing as Thordis had leaped onto the back of a Leviathan to pummel her way through the Chitauri on its back.

 

“And she didn’t invite me,” Toni tisked, careening off toward Thordis.

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie had run out of ammunition while on ground control. She hurled her empty gun in frustration, knocking one to the ground. She blocked an energy blast with her shield and threw it at the offending Chitauri, advancing as the creature was knocked back. She caught the rebounding shield and slammed the edge into the Chitauri’s face, which crumpled in on itself. The Chitauri dropped dead. Stephanie dodged an incoming beam, picked up a Chitauri’s spear, and hurled it. It went through the abdomen of one and pinned it into a bus. She headed over to the next cluster. “None of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we can’t close that portal, Nat?”

 

“Nearly there!” Nat called, and indeed, they were at the front doors of Stark Tower. A chariot landed in front of Nat, three Chitauri dismounting. They shifted her hand across the staff of the scepter and blew up the chariot, taking one of the Chitauri with it. Nat dodged a blast and slashed the scepter straight through one chitauri. The second leaped on them with a sharp knife, knocking Nat to the ground. Nat launched their hips into the air, kicking the Chitauri off and rolling backward. Nat forced the blade of the spear into the Chitauri’s neck. The spray of grey sludge was followed by the Chitauri dropping dead. “How do I get up?” Nat asked, panting.

 

“My private elevator has an independent generator,” Toni said as she blasted a triad of Chariots into oblivion. “Take it up to the roof. I’ve told JARVIS to give you access.”

 

“Okay,” Nat said, pushing their way inside the glass doors of the Stark Tower lobby and over to the private elevators. When Nat stepped inside the elevator and pressed on the button to go to the roof, they wanted to laugh. New York City was falling apart around them, and there they were, listening to elevator music.

 

* * *

 

 

Across the city, Thordis and the Hulk were on the back of a Leviathan. They were blowing through the advancing Chitauri with ease, but they needed to take down the Leviathan if they wanted to reduce the mobility of these creatures. The Hulk peeled off a piece of the Leviathan’s armor and slammed it into the creature’s spine. It bellowed in pain and rage, seizing in the air and heading toward the ground level. Thordis summoned a beam of lightning and struck the metal impaled in the monster’s back. The Leviathan went entirely still, crashing into Grand Central Station. Both Thordis and the Hulk leaped off the creature and landed in the debris of the station.

 

“Well done, friend Banner!” Thordis said happily. The Hulk knocked her to the ground.

 

“Don’t throw anymore,” The Hulk said, before heading back into the thick of the battle.

 

“I apologized!” Thordis exclaimed, picking herself up and following the Hulk back into the thick of the battle.

 

* * *

 

 

“Captain,” Claire said over the comms. “They’ve gotten into an evac route, the vault of a bank on Forty-second and Madison. There’s a lot of civilians there.”

 

“On it,” Stephanie said, heading over.

 

As Claire watched the skies, she saw the chariot with Loki. The desire to shoot him in the eye socket overcame her, so she made sure to notch a very special arrow. Notch, pull, release. The satisfying snap beside her ear launched the arrow through the air and at Loki’s face. He caught it and looked up at her as if disappointed. She grinned. The arrow exploded. He launched through the air.

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie jumped through the second-story window of the bank, where there were offices. In the bank, three chitauri were keeping the civilians captive while charging some sort of explosive device. Stephanie hurled her shield at the chitauri who was setting the bomb, slicing his head clean off his shoulders. The other two turned to her, guns pointed at her. She took cover behind a wooden desk, which shook and splintered with the force of their blasts. Stephanie kicked the desk into them, it shattered, disorienting them. She got one of the Chitauri into a headlock, twisting and snapping its neck after figuring out its spine. The second one grabbed her from behind, pulling her helmet and balaclava off her head. The straps of the helmet snapped, and the Chitauri fell backward, holding her helmet. She turned around and slammed the heel of her boot into the Chitauri’s chest. It caved in. The Chitauri twitched and then was still. She picked up her shield. Then, she realized the bomb the chitauri had set was beeping, and it was beeping faster and faster.

 

“Everyone! Clear out!” She ordered. They started rushing to the basement exit to the subways. She flipped her shield and tucked the bomb beneath it. The explosion launched her and the shield backward. She tumbled out of the window she had jumped through and landed on her back, lying in the rubble, looking up at the blue sky with the occasional chariot zipping overhead. She squinted, groaned, shifted, and pulled herself to her feet, looking around at the destruction. “Nat? ETA?” She asked over the comms.

 

“I’ve hit a speedbump,” Nat admitted. “Could use some backup.” The elevator was slowing to a halt on Toni’s penthouse level, not the roof. Which meant someone had called the elevator, and Nat had an idea who, someone who wanted the scepter back. Nat scaled the handlebars of the elevator and positioned themself on the ceiling, pushing with all their might against the walls, staying in on the ceiling. The doors opened, and a knife whistled through the air and struck the wall, where Nat had been standing moments ago.

 

“Where are you?” Loki asked. Nat kept their breathing quiet as the god stepped into the elevator, glancing around the corners. Nat pushed off against the wall and dropped. They landed on Loki’s shoulders, hands grabbing the horns of his stupid helmet like they were handlebars. Loki stumbled forward out of the elevator. A knife impaled itself in the outside of Nat’s thigh. Their breath hitched in pain. Nat grabbed the knife and flipped backward, pulling Loki down with them. Nat landed on their forearms and flung Loki over them, he fell on his face. Nat scrambled back, now there was a god between them and the elevator doors.

 

“I really need backup,” Nat said.

 

“Give me the scepter,” Loki ordered.

 

“Nah,” Nat shook their head. Loki lunged at them Nat let themself get knocked to the ground, shoved the knife in Loki’s side and twisted. Loki gasped in pain and let go, Nat kicked him off of them and limped to the door, blood pouring from the gash in their thigh. They pressed the call elevator button repetitively as if it would come faster the more they banged on the button. A hand pulled Nat back by the scepter, trying to get it out of the harness on their back. Nat spun, elbow catching Loki across the jaw. Loki knocked Nat to the ground. Nat pressed their back against the elevator doors as Loki lifted up the knife.

 

“I’m going to enjoy this,” Loki said, smiling malevolently. The glass windows behind him shattered.

 

“So am I,” Nat grinned.

 

A huge green hand batted Loki to the side like he was a fly. The elevator doors slid open behind Nat, and they dragged themself inside.

 

“Thank you!” Nat told the Hulk as they continued going to the roof, elevator doors closing.

 

Loki pulled himself to his feet, “Enough!” He cried. “You are all of you, beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature! And I will not be bullied by-”

 

The Hulk picked up Loki by his ankle and continued to fling him through the air and into the ground, which splintered beneath him. Satisfied that Loki was broken, she let go and dropped him. Loki laid on the ground, moaning. “Puny god,” The Hulk observed, walking back into the fight.

 

* * *

 

 

On the roof, Nat pulled the scepter over to the Tesseract, the source of the portal. The roof was littered with bodies, shrapnel, and chunks of Leviathan. It was a minefield.

 

“Doctor,” Nat greeted Selvig, who was still recovering from the blast. His eyes were no longer a clouded yellow. “Do you think that this could stop the Tesseract?” She lifted the scepter.

 

“I know it will,” Selvig said. “I built in safety to cut the power source.”

 

Nat activated comms, “I can close the portal. I repeat I can close the portal.”

 

“Do it!” Stephanie called.

 

“Wait!” A sixth voice crackled over the comms. It was Director Fury. “The United States just launched a nuclear warhead at the island of Manhattan.”

 

“There are eight million people on this island!” Stephanie exclaimed in horror. “Not to mention-”

 

“I didn’t like it either, Captain,” Fury said. “But I don’t have the means to stop them.”

 

“How much time?” Toni asked.

 

“A bit under three minutes,” Fury said.

 

“Then let’s give these Chitauri something to remember us by. We can hold the city for two-ish minutes, right?” Toni asked.

 

“We’ve already held her for thirty,” Stephanie said. “Are you gonna-”

 

“Get the bomb and put it in the portal, yeah.”

 

“Stark, you know that’s probably a one-way trip, right?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Thordis, can you take over air control?” Toni asked, wordlessly confirming that she did know it was a one-way trip, and she was going to accept that.

 

“With pleasure.”

 

“Hurry, Toni, the longer that portal is open-”

 

“-The less likely we are to win, I know, Cap,” Toni said.

 

“Nat, get ready to shut down the portal after the package is delivered,” Stephanie said.

 

“On it,” Nat said. “Want to help me?” they asked Selvig. Selvig rushed to the laptop on the console and started preparing the CMS device for the shutdown.

 

Toni blasted her repulsors to their maximum propulsion, speeding up and catching the nuclear missile that was soaring through the sky. JARVIS calculated on her heads-up display that if it detonated there would be an immediate death count of one million, and possibly three million in the coming months due to the severity of their injuries, not to mention the radiation effects on the east coast. Toni closed the simulation, she knew what was at stake here.

 

* * *

 

 

Claire’s hearing aids screeched. It was the same feedback when she went through an RFID scanner at the grocery store. She spun around to the source of the noise - a landing chariot of Chitauri. It seemed they were ready to take out the sniper. One got very close, she whacked it across the face with her bow and pulled out her knife, embedding the blade down to the hilt in the abdomen of the alien and slicing up. The chitauri collapsed, guts spilling at Claire’s feet. The second one lunged at her, she dodged and put the knife in the back of its neck, kicking it off the rooftop as it fell. Then, she noticed the chariot zipping overhead, guns charging. Those two were a distraction, and now her perch was getting bombed. She notched a grappling arrow and jumped. The arrow embedded into the wall and she swung toward the building. She burst through a window, landing hard on her back in an office as broken glass sprayed around her. “Aw, window.” Claire groaned.

 

* * *

 

 

Thordis took down another Leviathan, landing in the street to defeat the strays who survived the crash. Stephanie was already there, waiting to keep them from escaping into the crevices of the city. Stephanie vaulted over cars to drop down on Chitauri and ram her shield into their heads and chests until they stopped moving. Thordis crushed those who got close and electrocuted those who were trying to escape, occasionally throwing Mjolnir at a chariot zipping overhead and taking it down. She summoned Mjolnir back to her hand. Stephanie hurled her shield at the falling chitauri, turned around, and took a beam of energy straight to the stomach. She was launched backward and fell on her hands and knees, groaning and cursing. Thordis threw a car at the offending Chitauri and hurried over to help Stephanie, offering her a hand.

 

“You ready for another bout?” Thordis asked, looking at where Stephanie’s suit had been blasted away, but her flesh beneath was only lightly burned. Stephanie looked down at her injury, decided that she’d get some aloe on that later, and nodded.

 

“What,” She smiled, “You getting sleepy?”

 

* * *

 

 

Toni pushed harder and harder, they had maybe thirty seconds left. She angled the missile into the air and shot into the portal. She aimed the rocket at a huge Chitauri armada in the distance. There were probably nine ships, each one was being pulled by a dozen Leviathan. The nuclear missile continued to soar through space. Toni was slowly drifting back to the mouth of the portal, but too slowly. Ice was crawling across her suit, her repulsors were locked up.

 

“Shall I call Miss Potts?” JARVIS asked.

 

“Might as well,” Toni said. She didn’t know how she was going to tell Pepper what was happening. There were so many things she wanted to do with Pepper. So many things she wanted to say. The phone kept ringing. It went to voicemail.

 

“Hi, this is Pepper Potts, COO of Stark Industries. You’ve reached my personal line, but I am unavailable at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone, thank you.”

 

“Hey, Pep, I’m sorry,” Toni said. “I love you.”

 

* * *

 

 

On the ground, Stephanie watched the portal.

“We have fifteen seconds before that nuke goes, Captain, I’m ready to close the portal,” Nat said.

“Wait,” Stephanie said. “We give Toni the best chance we can.”

 

* * *

 

 

Toni watched as the nuclear bomb hit the main ship. It set off a domino effect, the entire armada was exploding in a massive blast of spectacular oranges, pinks, and blues. The shockwave of the explosions gave Toni an extra push, and now she was falling out of the portal. If only it would stay open long enough for her to make it through.

 

* * *

 

 

On the ground, every single Chitauri had crumpled. Their hive was destroyed, so their minds were gone as well. Even the Leviathan sailing through the air nosedived into the street, taking a building or two with it.

 

“Cap, I gotta close it,” Nat said. “I can see the blast-”

 

Stephanie sighed, “Close it.”

 

Nat pushed the scepter to the tesseract, shifted it off of the power source, and dislocated the circuit. The portal, no longer with charge, started to collapse in the sky. Just before the rip in space repaired itself, a small metal body fell out, gaining speed as it fell.

 

Stephanie smiled, “She did it.”

 

“She’s not slowing down,” Thordis said with worry. She spun Mjolnir, ready to fly and catch Toni, but she didn’t need to. The Hulk leaped from a rooftop somewhere and caught Toni as she fell. The Hulk landed on a separate building and then jumped down, bounding over to Stephanie and Thordis, dropping Toni on the ground. Stephanie dropped to Toni’s side and ripped the faceplate off of the Iron Maiden and looked at Toni’s face. It was very still. Painfully still. The Hulk roared.

 

With a start, Toni jolted awake. “What the hell? What just happened? Did somebody kiss me?”

 

“Didn’t have to,” Stephanie sighed with relief.

 

“But you would’ve?” Toni asked, fluttering her eyelashes and grinning.

 

“I guess you’ll never know,” Stephanie smiled. She looked up at the destroyed streets and buildings. The smoke pouring into the air. The streets littered with alien carcasses. “We won.”

 

“Alright, yay,” Toni said, wiggling in the suit. “Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it.”

 

Thordis looked up at Stark Tower - all the letters but the “A” had been destroyed one way or another as the Chitauri poured out of the tower.

 

“We’re not finished yet,” Thordis said, thinking of Loki.

 

“And then… Shawarma after?” Toni asked.

 

“Sure,” Stephanie said, helping Toni to her feet. “And then shawarma after.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Loki’s eyes fluttered open, he was confronted with the Avengers. Five women and one spy. All of them were glaring at him, and he knew he had lost.

 

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now,” He said to Toni, as he surrendered.

 

“No, you lost your La Croix privileges after you threw me out a window,” Toni said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, your feedback is appreciated!


	12. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying this so far!
> 
> This is the last chapter that I would consider plot-relevant, just so you know.

 

Toni was stumbling from debriefing in the Triskelion to their medical floor when she ran into Pepper. Pepper had, somehow, getting her way into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most secure base in D.C. 

 

“You nearly died, and you left me a  _ voicemail _ ?” Pepper looked sick with worry.

 

“To be fair, I left you the voicemail  _ before _ I nearly died.”

 

“That doesn’t make it better.”

 

“I know-”

 

“-do you have any idea what it was like-”

 

“-I should have told you more-”

 

“-watching you fighting aliens-”

 

“-I didn’t want you to worry-”

 

“-flying a  _ nuclear weapon _ into an  _ alien portal _ -”

 

“-which seems stupid now, you’d have worried anyway-”

 

“-Aliens in New York City! Over our tower-”

 

“-It’s not like I asked for this to happen-”

 

“-And I just had to watch you  _ sacrifice yourself _ on TV!”

 

There was a moment of silence. “I didn’t die,” Toni said.

 

“You were ready to,” Pepper added.

 

“No, I wasn’t ready to,” Toni said. “I was very, very far from ready. But - I had to.”

 

Pepper threw her arms around Toni, “I hate you sometimes.” She mumbled into Toni’s neck. “Because I really love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Toni said, rubbing reassuring circles into Pepper’s back.

 

* * *

 

 

Thordis watched as Loki was locked into place by sturdy metal cuffs. Unable to move.

 

“Keeping me like a caged monster?” Loki asked.

 

“Be glad they have not taken your tongue,” Thordis said. “ _ Yet _ .”

 

Loki laughed, “You sound like the Allfather.”

 

“Good,” Thordis said. “He always did scare you.”

 

“I was not scared of Odin!” Loki exclaimed.

 

“What happened?” Thordis asked.

 

Loki sighed, anger still behind his eyes, “You want to know what happened, Princess? On Jotunheim, when touched by a Frost Giant, my skin became theirs. I assumed it was a curse, but  Odin revealed I was the abandoned, bastard son of Laufey. One he took in as a pet after the war, an animal to fight for him. Just as he told me this, he fell into the Odinsleep. The fault of  _ you _ for refusing to pick a suitor.”

 

“Something I believe you helped me with greatly,” Thordis said.

 

“It was unfair that he banished you, that he justified your exile with the treaty of the Jotun, a race Asgard could  _ extinguish _ in a heartbeat. I did what I had to try to bring you home, and for my troubles, Heimdall and your precious warrior friends threw me off the Bifrost and destroyed it so neither of us could return!” Loki declared savagely.

 

“Quite a story, brother,” Thordis said. “I’ll come back tomorrow, and you can tell me the truth.”

 

* * *

 

 

Stephanie was watching the news. A week had passed since the portal closed. After being checked out by the medics once they stitched up her scrapes and applied salve to her burns, she was permitted to go home. She was flown back from D.C. by Claire and Nat. After being yelled at by Becca, Sam, and Rachel, Stephanie was allowed to take a long shower and sleep for half a day. She went back to her typical routine. Buying groceries, taking care of the baby, reading books, and sketching. Now, she was sitting on the couch. James was nursing in her arms.

 

“These so-called heroes have to be held responsible for the destruction done to the city. This was their fight. Where are they now?” A Senator Boynton asked on WHiH.

 

“Currently, the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. has claimed responsibility for all members of the team we say in New York,” A journalist said. “Perhaps you could ask them.”

 

“I am on the armed services committee, the appropriations committee, and the select intelligence committee,” Boynton said. “We’ve got nothing from S.H.I.E.L.D. They claim an active investigation, despite the executive order of President Ellis instituting a complete clean-up and quarantine of the city!”

 

“Would you rather the city wasn’t cleaned up?”

 

“I’d rather that we know - as Americans, which had an attack on our soil from, reportedly, space aliens - what happened!”

 

“Are you done, Bubba?” Stephanie asked James as he stopped suckling. She pulled down her shirt, tossed a towel over her shoulder, and started rocking and patting him against her.

 

“Thank you, Senator, that is all the time we have for you today,” The anchor said. Boynton’s red face cut away. “It’s clear Americans everywhere have many questions about what exactly happened in New York, and it seems they may soon get answers. Breaking News Report: Toni Stark, who was one of the six individuals seen fighting the aliens in New York, has reportedly  announced a press conference for this Friday with permissions from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division to declassify some of the investigation for the general public. The press conference will take place at the now-unquarantined ground zero: Stark Tower.”

“I wonder what S.H.I.E.L.D. is letting her say,” Stephanie mused to her son. He spat a mouthful of milky clear fluid onto her shoulder, flatulated very loudly and sighed contentedly. 

 

The intercom for her unit buzzed. Puzzled, Stephanie turned off the television and strode over to the door. “Hello?” She asked.

 

“Hey, Cap,” a voice crackled. “Mind if we come up?”

 

“Toni, I was just thinking about you,” Stephanie said. “Who’s ‘we’?”

 

“I brought Pepper.”

 

“Oh, sure,” Stephanie said, buzzing them in. A few moments later, there was a knock on her door.

 

“Oh, wow, you actually have a baby,” Toni said. “Pepper, this is Captain Stephanie Barnes and her son… I don’t know the kid’s name.”

 

“James Joseph Barnes,” Stephanie said. “You must be Pepper Potts, it’s lovely to meet you.”

 

“Likewise,” Pepper smiled. They shook hands as Stephanie held James to her chest with one arm. 

 

“Come inside,” Stephanie said, stepping out of the entranceway.

 

“Your house looks like an IKEA catalog,” Toni declared.

 

“Well, I got everything at IKEA,” Stephanie said. “You can sit right over here, I’ll just move the burp rag-” Stephanie tidied up a bit. “Sorry.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Toni said. She sat down and instantly started reclining in the couch, leaning into Pepper who was trying to sit properly, with her ankles crossed. “So, I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but people have a lot of questions about what happened. Fury agreed that we should answer some of them. And a lot of people have questions about you. They know you had Captain America’s shield, they know you look like Captain America, so the theories are time travel, cloning, androids, your long-lost child. And I know you want to stay out of the spotlight, but one of these days, someone is gonna see you and recognize you, and it’s all gonna go sideways. So. I think it’s best if we get on top of it.”

 

“You’re inviting me to your press conference on Friday?” Stephanie guessed.

 

“How did you know-”

 

“My television isn’t just decorative,” Stephanie said.

 

“We announced the press conference before we came to Brooklyn, remember?” Pepper told Toni slowly.

 

“I do  _ now _ ,” Toni said.

 

“You want me to tell the world I was frozen in a glacier for seventy years?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Unless you’d rather lie and say you’re your own granddaughter or clone or android,” Toni said. “I could draw up some last-minute specs for a  _ Captain America _ Life-Model Decoy.”

 

“Not necessary,” Stephanie sighed. “I knew that reality might catch up to me.”

 

Toni nodded. Pepper elbowed her in the side. Toni jumped, “Right - also, we have a proposition for you. We want you to join us.”

 

“To do what exactly?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Um… not like - okay, Stark Industries. You used to work there. You can still work there.”

 

“Doing what, exactly?” Stephanie repeated. She didn’t say it aloud, but she was struck by Howard’s farewell to her all those years ago.  _ There will always be a place for you at Stark Industries _ . Did Toni know her father’s suggestion seventy years ago, or was this fate?

 

Pepper took over for Toni, “We’re sorry to presume, but, we thought that you might want something to do in the future.”

 

“I have something to do,” she said. “I’m raising James.”

 

“Yes,” Pepper nodded. “But, and I don’t mean any offense, but is that all you want to do?”

 

And Stephanie realized that Pepper was probably right. She didn’t see herself being a mother full time forever. Last time she had tried being a homemaker, she was nearly driven insane by the mediocrity of it. And she loved James, but she couldn’t imagine that she’d be satisfied staying at home looking after him forever. Not to mention how good it felt to be doing something, even if it was for S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop the apocalypse.

 

“What are you suggesting?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Stark Industries oversees three charitable foundations, nine charities, thirty scholarship programs, and an international STEM grant program,” Pepper said. “I’m busy with the logistics of  running Stark Industries. Toni is busy being Toni.”

 

“I’m making the things that you sell,” Toni said.

 

“Yes, so, unfortunately, the attention to those charities has decreased recently. You’re a trained secretary and office manager, correct?”

 

“Yes,” Stephanie said.

 

“The work for charity administration wouldn’t be that different. And your work with Stark Industries in the past puts you at a unique position to be an outsider in STEM but, with some help,  able to envision the applications.”

 

“It sounds like you’re reciting my resume to me,” Stephanie said.

 

Toni cleared her throat, “I started doing a lot of charity work after Afghanistan because I wanted to use the money from my father’s legacy of war and weapons to put some good in the world. I can only assume you might want to do the same thing. I know you fought Nazis, and that’s better than - my point is, you can still help people without hurting others.”

 

“That is what I want,” Stephanie admitted. “And I’ve done charity administration before, I admit it was small-scale, just through my church and Buck’s synagogue, but I’ve done it. James is three months old, though.”

 

“We’re flexible on everything,” Pepper said. “Hours, location, pay. We offer medical insurance, childcare support-”

 

“You saved my life, Cap,” Toni said. “Romanoff told me you didn’t let them close the portal until the last second. So, we want to help.”

 

“I have some conditions,” Stephanie said. “I want to be myself, not a character, not Captain America. I don’t want to have to be someone I’m not for appearances’ sake.”

 

“We would never ask you to,” Pepper assured her.

 

Stephanie nodded, “Alright.”

 

“Alright?” Toni gaped.

 

“I’ll do the press conference, I’ll reintroduce myself as Captain Stephanie Barnes, and we can announce my employment at Stark Industries for charity administration.”

 

“I was expecting more resistance,” Toni said.

 

Stephanie shrugged, “Well, you were right-”

 

“I had a  _ powerpoint _ !” Toni exclaimed. “A very persuasive one!”

 

“It was persuasive,” Pepper agreed, patting Toni on the knee with assurance and smiling at Stephanie.

 

“Is that all?” Stephanie asked.

 

“Oh, word from Thordis,” Toni said. “She thinks she can use the Tesseract to take Loki and her back to Asgard, so he can be dealt with by their father, and the Tesseract can be either locked up or destroyed. Doctors Foster, Banner, and Selvig have sort of been having the time of their lives with the recent advancements in quantum and particle physics recently. We’ve all been invited to the goodbye party.”

 

“I hope she finds a way to destroy it,” Stephanie said. “Nobody deserves that much power.”

 

* * *

 

 

S.H.I.E.L.D. had sectioned away part of Central Park for Thordis and Loki to return to Asgard. They delivered Loki in a black van, he was cuffed, chained, and muzzled. Thordis watched her brother be pulled into the square of their departure point.

 

“Are you coming back?” Jane asked.

 

“I plan to,” Thordis said. “I don’t know what became of Asgard in my absence. I believe Loki has finally explained enough that I have an idea, but I am uncertain.”

 

“Just, promise you’ll be safe.”

 

“I swear, Jane, that I shall return to you,” Thordis said, kissing Jane sweetly. Thordis also hugged Selvig, Darcy, Stephanie, Toni, Bertie, Claire, and a reluctant Nat. She held Mjolnir in one  hand and the canister with the Tesseract in the other. She offered the other handle to Loki. He looked at her, glaring, but he accepted the other end. Thordis twisted the handle, and a beam of blue energy surrounded them. They disappeared.

 

One by one, the group split away. Bertie was staying with Toni, so they took one of her sports cars back to the tower. Nat and Claire took a ride back to headquarters on the S.H.I.E.L.D. van that had delivered Loki. Stephanie walked to the nearest subway station and took the trains back to Brooklyn.

 

* * *

 

 

The Press Room in Stark Tower was one of many rooms that were cleared for the public. There was a second room behind the “stage” area where Toni and Stephanie waited. Agents Nat and Claire had no desire to publicly televise their faces and identities. Bertie didn’t think that publicizing her identity and whereabouts was a good idea either, especially because there was still debate in the government if she was property. So “The Avengers” would be represented by Toni and Stephanie, with Pepper to mediate and control the press.

 

“Nervous?” Toni asked. She was wearing a gold jacket as a statement piece over an all-black ensemble.

 

“We just saved the earth from an alien invasion,” Stephanie said.

 

“Well, you can punch aliens. You can’t punch journalists.”

 

“You  _ can _ you just  _ shouldn’t _ ,” Stephanie muttered. Toni laughed.

 

“Ladies,” Pepper said, walking in, and wearing a respectable grey suit. “They’re ready for you.”

 

Stephanie activated the microphone on the neckline of her pale pink blouse, which was tucked into a black knee-length skirt. Toni turned on her microphone as well, she stepped out through the door first, kissing and waving at the press. Pepper leaned her head to the door, urging Stephanie to follow. Stephanie sighed. She considered flashing her gleaming Captain America smile. Then she dropped it. She stepped into the spotlight, a gentle and tired smile on her face. She sat in the padded, black chair beside Toni’s. Stephanie tucked her feet to the side and clasped her hands over her knees in the same way she had been taught by her mother when she was a girl. Pepper walked up to the podium off to the side and leaned into the mounted microphone.

 

“Hello, everyone, and welcome,” Pepper said. “We are very aware that the public has many questions about the recent events in New York City and the connection between this event and Stark Industries. We have been permitted by the government S.H.I.E.L.D. to share limited information about the subject. At any time, we may have to turn down a question for confidentiality, we thank you for being understanding. Before the interview starts, we would like to announce that the Maria Stark Foundation will be committing one and a half billion dollars to the efforts repairing and compensating those around ground zero. Miss Stark has a prepared statement. After she is finished, she will accept questions. Toni,” Pepper nodded.

 

Toni smiled at the journalists, sitting up straight, “The reports that aliens came out of the sky are correct. The agency S.H.I.E.L.D. was working on a classified project that gained the attention of another alien race, known as the Chitauri. When they realized the dangers of their experiment, they called me for assistance and consultation to see what power source would be needed to open a space portal, as Stark Industries is specializing in the energy business. Ironically, the aliens decided that my arc reactors were the only power source on earth sufficient to power space portals - which really is a testament to my clean energy more than anything. S.H.I.E.L.D. activated something called the Avengers Initiative, bringing together a group of people who were special for one reason for another to stop the aliens from invading. You all saw what happened next. The object which allowed for the aliens to open portals has been removed from the planet. The aliens all died. We won. Any quest-”

 

“Before we take questions, Toni, shouldn’t you introduce Stephanie?” Pepper asked.

 

“Right,” Toni said. “You wanna introduce yourself, Cap, or should I?”

 

“I can speak for myself, thank you,” Stephanie said politely. She turned to the press. “My name is Captain Stephanie Barnes, many of you may know me by the role I played in World War Two propaganda as the character Captain America, formerly First Officer America. I then led the first integrated squadron, the Howling Commandos, in Europe for a little over a year. I was incorrectly declared killed-in-action in June of nineteen forty-five. In reality, I crashed into an iceberg while trying to down a HYDRA bomber and was subsequently frozen in cryogenic stasis for sixty-six years and eight months. I had retired and retreated to a civilian lifestyle until a few days ago when I heard that the planet was at risk of alien invasion and decided to return from retirement under dire circumstances. Now that all is well, I have decided to accept employment at Stark Industries in administration for the Maria Stark Foundation as well as several other charitable organizations.” She smiled at them, “Any questions?”

 

Every reporter in the room raised their hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your feedback.
> 
> The next chapter will be a bonus of sorts. I love reading those stories that utilize social media as the means for the narrative, so I decided to write one. It's a little fluff piece, more than anything. So I hope you guys like it! :)


	13. Media

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively titled: Captain America gets Twitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter is mostly fluff and fun. I've wanted to do a social-media format for a while now, and I just decided, why the heck not?
> 
> I hope you enjoy, but this is just a fun experiment and little bonus epilogue.

**Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 2h

Thanks to everyone for a good press conference at  @StarkIndustries  today!  

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 2h

I’m excited that  @MariaStarkFoundation is giving $1.5bn to reconstruction & compensation in NYC.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 2h

Also, please be kind to  #CaptainAmerica she’s been through a lot, the future is scary.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 1h

Replying to  @joeistheman

Sorry to hear about your car, kid. Please talk to the  @MariaStarkFoundation , we’ll be offering direct financial compensation.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 49m

Replying to  @StewartTums88

I don’t think Cpt. Barnes knows how to use computers yet, so it might be a while before she gets a Twitter, but I’ll pass on the message!

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 37m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

So APPARENTLY not only does Cap know how to use computers, she owns a StarkPhone? I’ve never seen her use it?

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 34m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

“I’m just not obsessed with my robot rectangle” - Captain Stephanie Barnes (She also thinks Helen is creepy I am INSULTED)

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 22m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Stay tuned, ladies, gentlemen & misc, but I think I’ve talked Captain America into getting a Twitter!!!

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 14m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

You can find her at  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

 

 **Stephanie Barnes** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 12m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Is this it?

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 11m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Yep!

 

 **Stephanie Barnes** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 12m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

What does the check by your name mean?

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 9m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

It means I’m verified. So the people know I am Me. Give me a minute.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 7m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Booyah, I called Dorsey for you.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 5m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Thank you.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1m

Hi, Twitter! I’m Captain Stephanie Barnes, aka  #CaptainAmerica , thanks for welcoming me to the twenty-first century!

* * *

**Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 7h

Good morning, Twitter! I know that the general public has a lot of questions for me that weren’t answered in last week’s press conference.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 7h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Use the hashtag  #AskCptBarnes and I’ll try to reply to as many good questions as I can!

 

 **Zim The Destroyer** @KyleZimmerman89 7h

I’d like to  #AskCptBarnes  what she likes the most about the future so far?

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 7h

Replying to  @KyleZimmerman89

I have a few: 1 Internet-so helpful 2 Food-we used to boil everything & there’s many dfrnt types now 3 Medicine (vaccines, antibiotics, etc)

 

 **Lesleigh The Queen** @LesIsMiserable 6h

Okay, you’re like my fitness goals, how do you do it???  #AskCptBarnes

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @LesIsMiserable

Super Soldier Serum. I took some drugs, got radiation, and came out like this. I have to eat ~5k cals a day. Don’t try at home. Sorry.

 

 **Lesleigh The Queen ✓** @LesIsMiserable 6h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Wow, talk about an unattainable body. 5k calories a day?!? How big are your meals?

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @LesIsMiserable

I usually eat something every three hours. Very glad to have a walk-in pantry.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 6h

Okay,  #AskCptBarnes how do you already have 2.5 million followers? It took me a year to get 1 million???

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

More people are on Twitter now than when you started in 2008, you gave me a shout out & I’m a national icon.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 6h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

I wasn’t expecting an actual answer…

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓**  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

What were you expecting then?

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 6h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Something like “I don’t know” or “I’m better than you” or “hahaha”

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Hahaha, I don’t know, I’m better than you?

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 6h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

LET IT BE KNOWN THAT CAPTAIN BARNES IS A SASSY LITTLE SHIT

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 6h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Let it be known that Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark is addicted to sparkling water. It’s gross.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓**  @IAmTheToniStark 5h

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

No, it isn’t! Pepper, back me up!

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts** **✓** @VirginiaPotts 5h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

I like it, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to. Please refrain from calling Captain Barnes a “sassy little” anything.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 5h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark ,  @VirginiaPotts

Yeah, Toni, I’m not little.

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts ✓**  @VirginiaPotts 5h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

You are going to representing multiple Stark Industries charities, I’d like to keep the amount of public fighting with Toni at a minimum.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 5h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark ,  @VirginiaPotts

Yes, ma’am.

 

 **JohnJohnBoBohn** @JJJohnHHHolmes 4h

What are your thoughts on the Captain America image being misappropriated by the feminist movement?  #AskCptBarnes

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

My mother was a suffragette, and a single, working mother in the 20s & 30s. I lied about my marital status to get a job in 1940. 1/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

I helped bring legitimacy to the Women’s Army Corps, campaigned for desegregation & led an integrated unit of both gender & race. 2/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

Cpt America was first a damsel in distress. I punched Hitler in the face during the first USO show because he groped me & then it stuck. 3/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

I often disobeyed orders and went behind my superior’s backs because they, as men, didn’t think I could do my job. 4/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

After my death, I was a “good, patriotic wife” in propaganda material during the cold war and not the soldier for human rights that I was 5/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 2h

Replying to  @JJJohnHHHolmes

My image wasn’t “misappropriated” by the feminist movement - it was reclaimed. 

I am a feminist

6/6

 

 **George McMoo** @GeorgeMcMorris 44m

Replying to @StephanieGRBarnes1918, @JJJohnHHHolmes

Holy Shit - my grandfather played clarinet in NY in the 40s and he said you punched Hitler so hard at the first show he flew off the stage!

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 16m

Replying to  @GeorgeMcMorris

Yes, I broke his jaw and his foot and ruptured both of his testicles bc he groped me onstage & liked to sexually harass the other showgirls.

 

 **Serenity | Soldier For Human Rights** @TheNotoriousSerentiy 4m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 , @GeorgeMcMorris

You Are My New Icon, Captain Barnes!!!  #IAmAFeminist #RupturedBothOfHisTesticles #CaptainAmerica #AskCptBarnes #SoldierForHumanRights

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1m

Replying to  @TheNotoriousSerentiy

I’m flattered, thank you, Serenity.   
  


* * *

**The Associated Press ✓** @AP 5h

Captain Stephanie Barnes has officially started as the new head of the Maria Stark Foundation one month after announcing her return.

 

 **Triple-J** @JaeJanetJameson 5h

Hey  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 , why were you bringing a stroller with you on the subway this morning?

Click to see image

 

 **People ✓** @People 3h

Stephanie Barnes A.K.A. Captain America Might Be A Superhero And A Super Mother?  peoplem.ag/25h4D7e

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

Alright, everyone, we need to talk… 1/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

I was hesitant to take the job at the Maria Stark Foundation because I was concerned that being in public again would be dangerous 2/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

Toni argued, and she wasn’t wrong, that there were merits to controlling how I entered the public eye via press conference & Twitter 3/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

I’m grateful to be able to be an arm of propaganda no longer and instead speak and do the things that best represent me, Stephanie Barnes 4/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

However, I feel like we’ve gone too far in one direction. I think some of you forget that I’m still a private citizen with a private life 5/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 59m

My image on the news and on social media, while honest, is cultivated to present what I feel comfortable with the world knowing 6/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 58m

I still want to have privacy & I would hate to have to take extreme measures to be able to protect that because I like my life as is 7/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 57m

I enjoy taking walks through Prospect Park, visiting museums, going to the farmers market, etc. without worrying about publicity 8/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 55m

I’m not saying “if you see me in public, don’t come near me” because I’ve met a few of you and you’ve all been very kind 9/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 52m

But please respect the fact that if there is a part of my life that is private, it’s for a good reason: the comfort/safety of myself & others 10/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 50m

To answer the questions, because I know they won’t go away, yes, that was my child I was photographed with on the subway this morning 11/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 49m

I was unknowingly pregnant when I went into the ice after my husband’s death and I had our son, James J. Barnes, earlier this year 12/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 48m

James was with me on the subway because Stark Industries offers daycare services, so we were going to Stark Tower together 13/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 45m

If you see me & my son in public, please, DO NOT photograph us / post photos of us without my permission 14/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 42m

Toni & Pepper say these circumstances could be litigatable & I don’t want to do that because I assume you don’t intend anything bad 15/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 41m

Just remember that we have private lives that I would like to keep off the internet for James’s safety more than anything 16/

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 40m

Thank you all for being so understanding - I hope that we’re all going to be able to learn from this. 17/17

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 33m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

You’re very polite about it, Steph. But for the rest of you, today was very hard for her - it was her first day!

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 32m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

And she was worried about Twitter and her son on top of her new job. She’s right that we want to/have to keep some things private.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 31m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Just be a decent person and ask for permission when you see ANYBODY “famous” in public before posting a picture. 

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 30m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Because we do have to keep some things private for the safety and comfort of ourselves and others.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 29m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

And also, let it be known that I have met li’l Jimmy Barnes and I would gladly stab anyone who puts that baby boy in danger.

 

 **Triple-J** @JaeJanetJameson 11m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

I’d like to formally apologize for posting that picture. I wasn’t thinking & I’m sorry it caused you to be stressed & worried.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1m

Replying to  @JaeJanetJameson

Thank you. The only thing we can do with our mistakes is learn from them, so I hope you will.

* * *

 

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 1h

Happy 94th Birthday to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918  wishing a great day to the greatest senior citizen! Any plans for the day?

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 1h

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

Thank you, Toni. I’m going to celebrate it with bingo, jello, buffets (early bird special!), crocheting, and a History Channel marathon!

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 55m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Sarcasm must be a modern invention because it sounds really wrong when you do it. Actual plans?

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 49m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark

You know that you’re coming to my dinner party tonight right? You RSVP’d? You’re bringing the cake? Did you forget or did something change?

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts ✓** @VirginiaPotts 37m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

We’re coming to your dinner party to celebrate your 94th/27th, Stephanie, don’t worry. Toni just forgot.

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 30m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 ,  @VirginiaPotts

In my defense, I’ve been going back and forth between NY and LA all month! And I’m tired! And I’m still in LA, crap!

 

 **Toni “Iron Maiden” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 30m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 ,  @VirginiaPotts

It’s okay, I can literally fly faster than a fighter jet.

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts ✓** @VirginiaPotts 26m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

You forget everyone’s birthday, Toni, so it’s a miracle you just forgot you were *attending* Stephanie’s.

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 19m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @VirginiaPotts

It’s alright, Toni, I still love you. ♡

 

 **Toni “Stephanie Barnes Loves Me” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 14m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 ,  @VirginiaPotts

I’m printing out that tweet and framing it over my bed.

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts ✓** @VirginiaPotts 12m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Please don’t.

 

 **Toni “Stephanie Barnes Loves Me” Stark ✓** @IAmTheToniStark 9m

Replying to  @StephanieGRBarnes1918 ,  @VirginiaPotts

Too Late!!!!

Click to see image

 

 **Stephanie Barnes ✓** @StephanieGRBarnes1918 4m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @VirginiaPotts

I’m sorry, Pepper. If it’s worth anything, I also love you.

 

 **Virginia “Pepper” Potts ✓** @VirginiaPotts 1m

Replying to  @IAmTheToniStark , @StephanieGRBarnes1918

Thank you, Stephanie. I love you too.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so SO so much to everyone who's been reading this series.
> 
> I hope you liked my adaptation of The Avengers, and I hope you're looking forward to the beginning of phase 2.
> 
> As always I Love hearing from all of you! Your feedback is the greatest, both here and when you guys message me on my Tumblr (aycdicdmcu.tumblr.com). It warms my heart and sustains my drive to do this publishing thing :)
> 
> I highly recommend that you subscribe to my series so you can be updated on the later misadventures of these genderbent Avengers.
> 
> Up next, I will be posting my adaptation of Iron Man 3: Rose Gold. 
> 
> Again, thank you all so much, I hope you've enjoyed as much as I have! ♡ ♡ ♡


End file.
